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IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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Photograpliic 

Sdences 

Corporation 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


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Collection  de 
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Canadian  instituta  for  Historical  IMicroraproductiona 


inatitut  Canadian  da  microraproductiona  hiatoriquas 


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T«chnic«l  and  Bibliographic  Notat/Notas  tacliniquas  at  bibiiographiquas 


Tha  Instituta  lias  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  bast 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturas  of  this 
copy  which  may  ba  biblio  graphically  uniqua, 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagas  in  tha 
raproduction.  or  which  may  significantly  changa 
tha  usual  mathod  of  filming,  ara  chacliad  balow. 


D 


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Colourad  covars/ 
Couvartura  da  coulaur 


r~n   Covars  damagad/ 


Couvartura  andommagte 


Covers  restorad  and/or  laminatad/ 
Couvartura  rastaurAa  at/ou  palliculAa 


□   Covar  title  missing/ 
La 


titre  de  couverture  manqua 


I      I    Coloured  maps/ 


Cartes  gAographiquas  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  blacic)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


I      I    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  rellure  serr^e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  la  long  da  la  marge  intArieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certainas  pages  blanches  ajoutAas 
lore  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  la  texte, 
mais.  lorsque  cela  4tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  4t6  filmias. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentairas  supplAmentairas: 


L'Institut  a  microfilm*  la  mailleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  4t4  possible  da  se  procurer.  Lea  details 
da  cat  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographiqua.  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mithode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquis  ci-dessous. 


I     I   Coloured  pages/ 


D 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damagad/ 
Pages  endommagAas 

Pages  restored  and/oi 

Pages  restaurtes  at/ou  pelliculAes 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxe< 
Pages  dteolortes,  tachatAes  ou  piquAes 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d4tach6es 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Quality  inAgale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materii 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppl^mentaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Adition  disponible 


[~71  Pages  damagad/ 

I      I  Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 

rri  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 

r~~|  Pages  detached/ 

[~~1  Showthrough/ 

I     I  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I  Includes  supplementary  material/ 

|~~|  Only  edition  available/ 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmet:  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiallement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure. 
etc.,  ont  6ti  filmAes  A  nouveau  de  fapon  A 
obtanir  la  mailleure  image  possible. 


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30X 


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16X 


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28X 


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Th«i  copy  fCmad  h«re  has  baan  raproducad  thanks 
to  tha  ganarosity  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


L'axamplaira  film*  f ut  raproduit  grAca  A  la 
ginArositA  da: 

Bibliothiqua  nationala  du  Canada 


Tha  imagas  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
possibia  considaring  tha  condition  and  lagibility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  itaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacif Ications. 


Original  copias  in  printad  papar  covars  ara  filmad 
baginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impras- 
sion,  or  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copias  ara  filmad  baginning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  illustratad  impras- 
sion,  and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  with  a  printad 
or  illustratad  imprassion. 


Tha  last  racorded  frama  on  aach  microficha 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  -♦►  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  V  (moaning  "END"), 
whichavar  applias. 

Maps,  platas,  charts,  ate,  may  be  filmad  at 
diffarant  raduction  ratios.  Thosa  too  larga  to  ba 
antiraly  includad  in  ona  axposura  ara  filmad 
baginning  in  tha  uppar  laft  hand  cornar,  Mt  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  framas  as 
raquirad.  Tha  following  diagrams  illustrata  tha 
mathod: 


Las  imagas  suivantas  ont  4tA  raproduitas  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattat*  da  l'axamplaira  f  ilm«,  at  an 
conformity  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 

Las  axamplairas  originaux  dont  la  couvartura  an 
papiar  ast  imprimia  sont  filmte  an  commandant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
darniira  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainte 
d'imprassion  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  la  second 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Tous  las  autras  axamplairas 
originaux  sont  filmfo  an  commandant  par  la 
pramlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainte 
d'imprassion  ou  d'illustration  at  en  tarminant  par 
la  darniAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  das  symbolas  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
darnlAra  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  la  symbols  -^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE  ",  le 
symbols  ▼  signifie  "FIN  ". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmte  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diff Arents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clichA,  il  est  filmA  A  partir 
da  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite, 
et  de  haut  an  bas,  an  prenant  le  nombre 
d'imagas  nAcessaira.  Les  diagrammas  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


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H 


ALONG 


ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER, 


A  rOPULAIl  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  TRAVELS  OF  THE  ALASKA  EXPLORING 

EXPEDITION  OF  1883,  ALONG  THE  CIREAT  YUKON  RIVER, 

FROM  ITS  SOURCE  TO  ITS  MOUTH,  IN  THE  BRITISH 

NORTH-WEST  TERRITORY,  AND  IN  THE 

TERRITORY  OF  ALASKA. 


BT 


FREDERICK   8CHWATKA, 

Laureate  of  the  Paris  GeoKraphlcal  Society  and  t  f  tlie  Imperial  Geoi;rapliic«l  Society 

of  Rassia,  Ilonorary  Member  Bremen  Ocograpliieal  Society, 

etc.,  etc.    Commander  of  tlie  Szpedition. 


NEW  YORK : 

CASSELL  &  COMPANY,  Limited, 

739  &  741  Broadway. 


■«W" 


I- 


'^cMcoi^T^^A     P 


'><i^ 


CorVRICHT, 

•88s, 
Bv  O.  M.  DUNHAM. 


iyis 


W.  L.  Mershon  &  Co., 

Printers    and    Electntypers. 

Rahwav,  N.  J. 


// 


y/' 


t 


PREFACE. 


These  pages  narrate  the  travels,  in  a  popular  sense,  of 
the  Alaska  exploring  expedition  of  1883.  In  April  of 
that  year  the  expedition  was  organized  with  seven  mem- 
l)ers  at  Vancouver  Barrat^ks,  Washington  Territory,  and 
left  Portland,  Oregon,  in  May,  ascending  the  inhind 
passage  to  Alaska  as  far  as  the  Chilkat  country  ;  thei*e 
the  party  enii)loyed  over  three  score  of  the  Chilkat 
Indians  to  pai^k  its  effects  across  the  glacier-clad  pass  of 
the  Alaskan  coast  range  of  mountains  to  the  head-waters 
of  the  Yukon.  Here  a  large  mft  was  constructed,  and 
on  this  primitive  craft,  sailing  through  nearly  a  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  of  lakes,  and  shooting  a  number  of  rapids, 
the  party  floated  along  the  great  stream  for  over  thirteen 
hundred  miles,  the  longest  raft  journey  ever  made,  in 
the  interest  of  geographical  science.  Tlie  entire  river, 
over  two  thousand  miles,  was  tmversed,  tlie])arty  return- 
ing home  by  way  of  Bering's  Sea,  and  touching  at  the 
Aleutian  Islands. 


^^••^^mmmm 


CONTENTS. 


Cbaptbh. 
I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 


Introductory,     ,     . 
The  Inland  Passage  to  Alahka, 
In  the  Chilkat  Country, 
Over  the  Moitntain  Pass, 
Alono  the  Lakes,    .  .  . 

A  Chapter  about  Rafting, 


VII.    The  Grand  Canon  of  the  Yukon, 
VI 11.     Down  the  River  to  Selkirk, 
I.X.    Through  the  Upper  Ramparts,    . 
X.    Throu<jh  the  Yukon  Flat-lands, 
XI.    Through  the  Lower  Ramparts  and  end 

OF  THE  Raft  Journey,    . 
XII.    Down  the  River,  and  Home, 
Appendix,       ...... 


Paob. 

9 
12 
36 

r)3 

90 
131 
154 
175 
207 
204 

289 
313 
347 


W-:  •• 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


TAKEN   FROM   PII(>TO(JISAlMI8  BY    MU.    HUMAN. 

raw 

Dayay  Vau.ey,  Nourhk  River 73 

Dayay  Valley,  from  Camp  4 77 

Lake  Lindeman 08 

Lake  Bennett 101 

Lake  Marhh liil 

Grand  Canon 16.3 

The  Cascades 1(59 

LoRiNd  Bluff 11).*) 

Kit'l-ah-«on  Indian  Village 197 

Inoersoll  Islands                          2()1 

Mouth  of  Pelly  River 209 

LooKiNO  UP  Yukon  from  Selkirk 21.3 

Ayan  Grave  at  Selkirk 217 

Ayan  Indians  in  Canoes 221 

Konit'l,  Ayan  Chief 2:M) 

Klat-ol-klin  Villaoe 253 

Steamer  "Yukon" .276 

Nuklakayet .307 

The  Raft,  at  end  of  its  JouRNnv :112 

OoNALASKA .'144 

Map  1,  Map  oi-^  Alasica  Explorin(j  Expedition    .               .  .55 

Map  2,          "           "              -                  "  207 
Map  3,         "          "              "                 "             .In  Pocket. 

FllOM   SKETCIIKS   BY   SEIUJEAXT  OLOSTEH. 

Crater  Lake,  British  North-west  Territory,  the  source 

of  Alaska's  Great  River       .        .        ,         Frontispiece. 

Canoeino  up  the  Dayay     .        .              65 

Ahcendin(J  the  Pkrrier  Pass 8S 

In  a  Storm  on  the  Lakes 90 

Lake  Bove 116 

"Stick"  Indians 187 

Among  the  "Sweepers" 184 

Prying  the  Raft  off  a  Bar 145 

Grayling IM 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


'^'^W 


IH  THE  Rink  Raimdh 17S 

Clay  Bluith  on  the  Yukon 170 

Outlet  ov  Lake  Kluktabhi 184 

The  Rink  Rapidh 191 

The  Ruinh  of  Selkirk 8()5 

In  the  Upper  Ramparth 207 

Moube-Skin  Mountain 248 

RoQUETTE  Rock 250 

Boundary  Butte 201 

Lower  Ramparts  Rapids 2i)5 

Mouth  of  Tanana 303 

Falling  Banks  of  Yukcw 319 

Anvik 330 

FROM  DIAGKAM  AND  PLANS  BY  TIIK  AUTIIOK  AND  OTIIKKH. 

The  Inland  Pashaoe 12 

Scenes  in  the  Inland  Pa'ssaoe 19 

Sitka,  Ai^ska 29 

Chilkat  Bracelet 36 

Pyramid  Harbor,  Chilkat  Inlet 43 

Chilkat  Indian  Packer 88 

Methods  of  Trackino  a  ('anoe  up  a  Rapid      ...  64 

Salmon  Bpearh 76 

Walking  a  Loo 80 

Chasing  a  ^Iountain  Goat 88 

Snow  Shoeh 87 

Pins  for  Fastrning  Marmot  Snares 112 

"Snubbing"  the  Raft 131 

Banks  of  the  Yukon 135 

SCRAPIN(»  AIX)NG  A  JANIC 140 

Course  of  Raft  and  Axis  of  Stream l.'>2 

Whirlpool  at  Lower  End  of  Island  15S 
Alaska  Brown  Bear  Fighting  Mosquitoes  .       .       .       .174 

A\AN  AND  Chilkat  Qamblino  Tools         ....  227 

Plan  of  Ayan  Summer  House 229 

Ayan  Moose  Arrow 231 

Ayan  Winter  Tent 233 

A  Gravel  Bank 236 

Fishing  Nets 258 

Salmon  Killing  Club 259 

A  Moose  Head 264 

Moss  on  Yukon  River 267 

Indian  "Cache" 289 

Iin>iAN  Out-door  Gun  Covering  .              .       ...  313 


* 


I 


iiia 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


' 


,: 


. 


r 


CHAPTER  I. 


I  NTRODI^CTOK  1  , 


'  "    i    -     'I 


[E  Alaskan  exploring  expedition  of  1883  was  com- 
posed of  tlie  following  nie'». hers:  Lieut.  Schwatka, 
U.  S.  A.,  commanding;  Dr.  George  F.  Wilson, 
U.  S.  A.,  Surgeon  ;  Topogmphicsil  AN.sistunt  Churles  A. 
Homan,  U.S.  Engineers,  Topographer  and  Photogmpher ; 
Sergeant  Charles  A.  Gloster,  U.  S.  A.,  Artist;  Corporal 
ShircliflF,  U.S.A.,  in  charge  of  stores;  Private  Roth, 
assistant,  and  Citizen  J.  B.  Mcintosh,  si  miner,  who  h:id 
lived  in  Alaska  and  was  well  acquainted  witli  its  methods 
of  travel.  Indians  and  others  were  added  and  discharged 
from  time  to  time  as  hereafter  noted. 

The  main  object  of  the  expedition  was  to  acquire 
such  information  of  the  country  tmversed  and  its  wild 
inhabitants  as  would  be  valuable  to  the  military- 
authorities  in  the  future,  and  as  a  map  would  be  need- 
ful to  illustrate  such  information  well,  the  party's 
efforts  were  rewarded  with  making  the  expedition 
successful  in  a  geographical  sens«\  I  had  hoped  to 
be  able,  through  qualified  subordinates,  to  extend  our 
scientific  knowledge  of  the  country  explored,  espec- 
ially in  regard  to  its  botany,  geology,  natural  history, 
etc.;   and,  although  these   subjects  would  not  in  any 


-I, 


J 


•    i| 


10 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


event  have   been    adequately   discussed  in  a  popular 
treatise  like  the  present,  it  must  be  admitted  that  little 
was  accomplished  in  these  branches.     The  explanation 
of  this  is  us  follows :     In  1881,  authority  was  asked  from 
Congress  for  a  sum  of  money  to  make  such  explorations 
under  military  supervision  and  the  request  was  dis- 
approved by  the  General  of  the  Army  and  Secretary  of 
War.     This  disapproval,  combined  with  the  active  oppo- 
sition of  government  departments  which  were  assigned 
to  work  of  the  same  general  character  and  coupled  with 
the  reluctance  of  Congress  to  make  any  appropriations 
whatever  that  year,  was  sufficient  to  kill  such  an  under- 
taking. When  the  military  were  withdrawn  from  Alaska 
by  the  President,  about  the  year  1878,  a  paragraph  ap- 
peared at  the  end  of  the  President's  order  stating  that 
no  further  control  would  he  exercised  by  the  army  in 
Alaska ;  and  this  i)roviso  was  variously  interpreted  by 
the  friends  of  the  army  and  its  enemies,  as  a  humiliation 
either  to  the  army  or  to  the  President,  according  to  the 
private  belief  of  the  commentator.      It  was  therefore 
seriously  debated  whether  any  military  expedition  or 
party  sent  into  that  country  for  any  purpose  whatever 
would  not  be  a  direct  violation  of  the  President's  pro- 
scriptive  order,  and  when  it  was  decided  to  waive  that 
consideration,  and  send  in  a  party,  it  was  considered  too 
much  of  a  responsibility  to  add  any  specialists  in  science, 
with  the  disapproval  of  the  General  and  the  Secretary 
hardly  dry  on  the  i)aper.     The  expedition  was  therefore, 
to  avoid  being  recalled,  kept  as  secret  as  possible,  and 
when,   on  May  22d,  it  departed  from  Portland,  Oregon, 
upon  the  Victoria^  a  vessel  which  had  been  specially  x^nt 
on  the  Alaska  route,  only  a  two  or  three  line  notice  had 


iVMai 


f 


INTRODUCTORY. 


11 


! 


gotten  into  the  Oregon  papers  announcing  the  fact ; 
a  notice  that  in  spreading  was  referred  to  in  i)rint  by 
one  government  official  as  "a  junketing  party,"  by 
another  as  a  "jjrospecting '"  party,  while  another 
bitterly  acknowledged  that  had  he  received  another 
day's  intimation  he  could  have  had  the  party  recalled 
by  the  authorities  at  Washington.  Thus  the  little  ex- 
pedition which  gave  the  first  complete  survey  to  the 
third*  river  of  our  country  stole  away  like  a  thief  in  the 
night  and  with  far  less  money  ir.  its  hands  to  conduct 
it  through  its  long  journey  than  was  afterward  ai)pro- 
priated  by  Congress  to  publish  its  report. 

Leaving  Portland  jit  midnight  on  the  22d,  the  Victo- 
ria arrived  at  Astoria  at  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  the 
forenoon  of  the  2i}d,  the  remaining  hours  of  daylight 
being  employed  in  loading  witli  supiilies  for  a  number  of 
salmon  canneries  in  Alaska,  the  large  amount  of  freight 
for  which  had  necessitated  this  extra  steamer.  That 
night  we  crossed  the  Columbia  River  bar  and  next 
morning  entered  the  Strait  of  Juande  Fuca,  the  southern 
entrance  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  which  leads  to  the  in- 
land jiassjige  to  Alaska. 


*  The  largest  river  on  tlie  North  Ainericaii  continent  so  far  as  this 
mighty  stream  flows  witliin  our  houndaries.  .  .  .  The  people  of 
the  Unitad  States  will  not  l)e  quick  to  take  to  the  idea  that  the  vol- 
ume of  water  in  an  Alaskan  river  is  greater  than  that  discharged  hy 
the  mighty  Mississippi ;  but  it  is  entirely  within  the  bounds  of  honest 
statement  to  say  that  the  Yukon  river  .  .  .  discharges  every 
liour  one-third  more  water  than  the  "  Father  of  Watei-s."— Petroff's 
Government  Report  on  Ahtska. 


*  I 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE   INLAND   PASSAGE  TO  ALASKA. 

^LAND  PASSAGE  "  to 
Alaska  is  the  fjord -like 
channel,  resembling  a  great 
river,  which  extends  from 
the  northwestern  part  of 
Washington  T  e  r  '•  i  t  o  r  y, 
through  British  Columbia, 
into  southeastern  Alaska. 
Along  this  coast  line  for 
about  a  thousand  miles,  stretches  a  vast  archipelago 
closely  hugging  the  mainland  of  the  Territories  named 
above,  the  southernmost  important  island  being  Van- 
couver, almost  a  diminutive  continent  in  itself,  while  to 
the  north  Tchichagolf  Island  limits  it  on  the  seaboard. 

Prom  the  little  town  of  Olympia  at  the  h^ad  of  Puget 
Sound,  in  Washington  Territory,  to  Chilkat,  Alaska,  at 
the  head  of  Lynn  Channel,  or  Canal,  one  sails  as  if  on  a 
grand  river,  and  it  is  really  hard  to  comprehend  that  it  is 
a  portion  of  the  ocean  unless  one  can  imagine  some  deep 
fjord  in  Norway  or  Greenland,  so  deep  that  he  can  sail 
on  its  waters  for  a  fortnight,  for  the  fjord-like  character 
is  very  prominent  in  these  channels  to  which  the  name  of 
"  Inland  Passage  "  is  usually  given. 

These  channels  between  the  islands  and  mainland  are 
strikingly  uniform  in  width,  and  therefore  river-like  in 


THE  INLAND  PASSAGE  TO  ALASKA. 


18 


appearance  as  one  steams  or  sails  through  them.  At 
occasional  points  they  connect  with  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
and  if  there  be  a  storm  on  the  latter,  a  few  rolling  swells 
may  enter  at  these  places  and  disturb  the  equilibrium  of 
sensitive  stomachs  for  a  brief  hour,  but  at  all  other 
places  the  channel  is  as  quiet  as  any  broad  river,  what- 
ever the  weather.  On  the  south  we  have  the  Strait  of 
>Juan  de  Puca  and  to  the  north  Cross  Sound  as  the  limit- 
ing channels,  while  between  the  two  are  found  Dixon 
Entrance,  which  separates  Alaska  from  British  Colum- 
bia, Queen  Charlotte  Sound,  and  other  less  important 
outlets. 

On  the  morning  of  the  24tli  of  May  we  entered  the 
Strait  of  Juan  de  Fuca,  named  ;  fter  an  explorer — if 
such  he  may  be  called — who  never  entered  this  beautiful 
sheet  of  water,  and  who  owes  his  immortality  to  an 
audacious  guess,  which  came  so  near  the  truth  as  to 
deceive  the  scientific  world  for  many  a  century.  To  the 
left,  as  we  enter,  i.e.,  northward,  is  the  beautiful  British 
island  of  Vancouver,  the  name  of  which  commemorates 
one  of  the  world's  most  famous  explorers.  Its  high 
rolling  hills  are  covered  with  shaggy  firs,  broken  near 
the  beach  into  little  prairies  of  brighter  green,  which  are 
dotted  here  and  there  with  pretty  little  white  cottages, 
the  humblest  abodes  we  see  among  the  industrious, 
British  or  American,  who  live  in  the  far  west. 

The  American  side,  to  the  southward,  gives  us  the 
same  picture  backed  by  the  high  range  of  the  ()Iym])ian 
Mountains,  whose  tops  are  covered  with  j)erpetual  snow, 
and  upon  whose  cold  sides  drifting  clouds  are  c(m- 
densed. 

Through  British  Columbia  the  sides  of  this  passage  are 


^ 


14 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


covered  with  firs  and  spruce  to  the  very  tops  of  the  steep 
mountains  forming  them,  but  as  Northing  is  gained 
and  Alaska  is  reached  the  summits  are  covered  with  snow 
and  ice  at  all  months  of  the  year,  and  by  tlie  time  we 
cast  anchor  in  Chilkat  Inlet,  which  is  about  the  north- 
ernmost point  of  this  great  inland  salt-water  river,  we 
find  in  many  places  these  crowns  of  ice  debouching  in 
the  shai)e  of  glaciers  to  the  very  water's  level,  and  the 
tourist  beholds,  on  a  regular  line  of  steamboat  travel, 
glaciers  ^nd  icebergs,  and  many  of  the  wonders  of  arcti'r 
regions,  although  upon  a  reduced  scale.  Alongside  the 
very  banks  and  edges  of  these  colossal  rivers  of  ice  one 
can  gather  the  most  beautiful  of  Alpine  flowers  and 
wade  up  to  his  w^aist  in  grasses  that  equal  in  luxuriance 
the  famed  fields  of  the  pami)as  ;  while  the  singing  of  the 
birds  from  the  woods  and  glens  and  the  fragrance  of  the 
foliage  make  one  easily  imagine  that  the  Arctic  circle 
and  equator  have  been  linked  together  at  this  point. 

Entering  Juan  de  Fuca  Strait  a  few  hours  were  spent 
in  the  pretty  little  anchorage  of  Neah  Bay,  the  first 
shelter  for  ships  after  rounding  Cape  Flattery,  and  here 
some  merchandise  was  unloaded  in  the  huge  Indian 
canoes  that  came  alongside,  each  one  holding  at  least 
a  ton. 

Victoria,  the  metropolis  of  British  Columbia,  was 
reached  the  same  day,  and  as  it  was  the  Queen's  birth- 
day we  saAT  the  town  in  all  its  bravery  of  beer,  bunting 
and  banners.  Our  vessel  tooted  itself  hoarse  outside  the 
harbor  to  get  a  pilot  over  the  bar,  but  none  was  to  be 
had  till  late  in  the  day,  when  a  pilot  came  out  to  u' 
showing  plainly  by  his  condition  that  he  knew  ever^  ar 
in  and  about  Victoria.    With  the  bar  pilot  on  the  br  ige, 


V 


.li. 


,  ~"i 


h  .'\ 


VI  ! 


THE  INLAND  PASSAGE  TO  ALASKA 


18 


T\ 


i 


A 


,   ~^ 


SO  as  to  save  insurance  should  an  a^^ident  occur, 
we  entered  the  picturesque  little  h  .rbor  in  safety, 
despite  the  discoveries  of  our  guide  t-hat  since  his  last 
visit  all  the  buoys  had  been  woefr'iy  misplaced,  and  even 
the  granite  channel  had  char  .^ed  its  course.  But  Vic- 
toria has  many  embellishro^  ats  more  durable  than  bunt- 
ing and  banners,  and  mr  jt  conspicuous  among  them  are 
her  well  arranged  an'^  well  constructed  roads,  in  which 
she  has  no  equal  o' .  the  Pacific  coast  of  North  America, 
and  but  few  rivr  .s  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 

On  the  26t\  we  crossed  over  to  Port  Townsend,  the 
port  of  er.ry  for  Puget  sound,  and  on  the  27th  we 
headed  'jr  Alaska  by  way  of  the  Inland  Passage. 

Fo^  purposes  of  description  this  course  should  have 
bc^a  designated  the  "inland  passages,"  in  the  plural, 
'jr  its  branches  are  almost  innumerable,  running  in  all 
directions  like  the  streets  of  an  irregular  city,  although 
now  and  then  they  are  reduced  to  a  single  channel  or 
fjord  which  the  steamer  is  obliged  to  take  or  put  out  to 
sea.  At  one  point  in  Discovery  Passage  leading  from 
the  Gulf  of  Georgia  toward  Queen  Charlotte  Sound,  the 
inland  passage  is  so  narrow  that  our  long  vessel  had  to 
steam  under  a  slow  bell  to  avoid  accidents,  and  at  this 
place,  called  Seymour  Narrows,  there  was  much  talk  of 
bridging  the  narrow  way  in  the  grand  scheme  of  a  Can- 
adian Pacific  Railway,  which  sli"buld  have  its  western 
terminus  at  Victoria.  Through  this  contracted  way  the 
water  fairly  boils  when  at  its  greatest  velocity,  equaling 
ten  miles  an  hour  in  spring  tides,  and  at  such  times  the 
passage  is  hazardous  even  to  steamers,  while  all  other 
craft  avoid  it  until  slack  water.  Jutting  rocks  increase 
the  danger,  and  on  one  of  these  the  United  States  man- 


/  , 


M 


''^''^o  ALASKA'S.  oneArmvim. 


of-war  Saranac  was  lost   * 

passed  through      At  fh     ^"^*  ^^'S^***  >'«ars   before  we 

trending  away  to  the  ^.Jl  "  '"'""<i  P^^^'ge 

!eft  »..„„<,  Chatham  prr::';;?  *''"""'  ^"^  -  *'« 

■«  that  half  «o,n„,ui.i4"::;;^;'^'''« ^7  -  »o„deWng 

"imt  you  „i„  see  afte.  yo.^L  V"' ""  "'^»'  '""d' 
t;;e  great  Ship  «.,„,,  :X;-;^^^^^^^  to  the  right, 
that  what  you  toolc  for  a  l.-.v  f    ,.  '  """^  ^o"  «nd 

-«e  itself,  which  strtc".er„r        ""  *"<'""»n<l  pas- 
the  Hudson  looking  uputdT  "T  '^''"">'°"  ""e 
Delaware  at  the  Wale"  GaT  T  ^'''  ^''""'  »  the 
»-t  the  tourist  be  ZpZ  o!  th     """'  ""'*'  '""^''-^ 
The  new  bend  now  b^^esl  ^    ""^""'^  *<'^'««- 

continues  to  Queen  Charlotte  So     r '''"*'  '*™"»'«»  « 
neets  by  one  st^'t,  two  Islt^";/:  t"  «'"«"  '*  con- 

e'^cept  in  name,  and  n^eT  ,."''''""•''•''" ''"k*. 
At  nearly  ever;  JintZlTTZT.'"'  ""^'  '«»«• 
■^-th  arms  fake  on  a  newTame  r/^"""'  '^'^''^^''^ 
«Pidlyas  the  names  ofauth       !      '"^  '"'™Se  as 
^om  the  same  over  a  few  hi  T'  ""f  ■'^'^'"" 
Johnstone  Strait  is  particnInT  i'-  .       """^  ^'^^  of 
from  the  water  fully  ".^"7  ^  '"^''  ™'"^  "^ruptly 
""«he  the  YellowstLe  C  /r  "^    '"  '"""'""•  ""* 
«tillcove,^d  with  snow  and  probah,  '""""'*'  ««'« 

»ow  remains  the  aummerC.5 "  0"'"™  ^""*« 
valley  was  on  the  Vancouver  S  .^^"''  "<'*'•'«»'''« 
spicuous  conical  hill  i„  ;*"!     ''""''  '"'«'■   «'ith  a  con- 

o-era  thousand  feet  in  heilr-i^""  ""^  '"'^*"'«'"' 


THE  INLAND  PASSAGE  TO  ALASKA. 


17 


before  we 
s  pictur- 

passiige 
ly  on  the 
ondering 
Bw  lands 
ie  right, 
you  find 
^nd  pas- 
ou  like 

or  the 
urprises 
rage, 
and  so 
it  con- 
l  alike, 

long, 
iverges 
tige  as 
seldom 
ide  of 
•uptly 
not 

were 

ojjes 

cable 

con- 
been 

lills 

rica 

this 

ater 


point  in  my  narrative.  Occasionally  windrows  occur 
through  the  dense  coniferous  forests  of  the  inland  pas- 
sage, where  the  trees  have  been  swept  or  leveled  in  a 
remarkable  manner.  Such  as  were  cut  vertically  liad 
been  caused  by  an  avalanche,  and  in  these  instances  the 
work  of  clearing  had  been  done  as  faithfully  as  if  by  the 
hands  of  man.  Sometimes  the  bright  green  moss  or 
grass  had  grown  up  in  these  narrow  ways,  and  when  there 
was  more  than  one  of  about  the  same  age  there  was  quite 
a  picturesque  effect  of  stripings  of  two  shades  of  green, 
executed  on  a  most  colossal  plan.  These  windrows  of 
fallen  trees  sometimes  stretched  along  horizontally  in 
varying  widths,  an  effect  undoubtedly  produced  by 
heavy  gales  rushing  through  the  contracted  "  passage." 

One's  notice  is  attracted  by  a  species  of  natural  beacon 
which  materially  assists  the  navigator.  Over  almost  all 
the  shoals  and  submerged  rocks  hang  fields  of  kelp,  a 
growth  with  which  the  whole  "passage"  abounds,  thus 
affording  a  timely  warning  badly  needed  where  the 
channel  has  been  imperfectly  charted.  As  one  might 
surmise  the  water  is  very  bold,  and  these  submerged  and 
ragged  rocks  are  in  general  most  to  be  feared.  Leaving 
Johnstone  Strait  we  o.iter  Queen  Charlotte  Sound,  a 
channel  which  was  named,  lacking  only  three  years,  a 
century  ago.  It  widens  into  capacious  waters  at  once 
and  we  again  f^lt  the  "throbbing  of  old  Neptune's 
pulse,"  and  those  with  sensitive  stomachs  perceived  a 
sort  of  flickering  of  their  own. 

One  who  is  acquainted  merely  in  a  general  way  with 
the  history  and  geography  of  this  confusing  country 
finds  many  more  Spanish  names  than  he  anticipates,  and 
to  his  surprise,  a  conscientious  investigation  shows  that 


IH 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  (JHEAr  HIVER. 


•'ven  as  it  is  tlu;  vigorous  old  ('astiliaii  exi>loivrs  have 
not  received  all  the  credit  to  whi<'h  they  are  entitled,  for 
many  of  their  <liscoveries  in  <*hanging  hands  changed 
names  as  well :  the  Queen  CMiarlotte  Islands,  a  good 
day's  run  to  the  northwestward  of  us,  were  named  in 
1787  by  an  Engl ishnuin,  who  gave  the  group  the  name 
of  his  vessel,  an  appellation  which  they  still  retain, 
although  as  Florida  IJlanca  they  had  known  the  banner 
of  Castile  and  Leon  thirteen  years  before.  Mount  Edge- 
cumbe,  so  i)romineutin  the  beautiful  harbor  of  Sitka,  was 
once  Monte  San  Jacinto,  and  a  list  of  the  same  tenor 
might  be  given  that  would  prove  more  voluminous  than 
interesting.  AnuM'ican  changes  in  the  great  northwest 
have  not  been  so  radical.  Jioca  de  Quadra  Inlet  has 
somehow  become  Bouquet  Inlet  to  those  knowing  it  best. 
La  Creole  has  degenerated  into  llickreall,  and  so  on  :  the 
foreign  names  have  been  mangled  but  not  annihilated. 
We  sail  across  Queen  Charlotte  Sound  as  if  we  were 
going  to  bump  right  into  the  high  land  ahead  of  us,  but 
a  little  indentation  over  the  bow  becomes  a  valley,  then 
a  bay,  and  in  ample  time  to  prevent  accidents  widens  into 
another  salt-water  river,  about  two  miles  wide  and 
twenty  times  as  long,  called  Fitzhugh  Sound.  Near  the 
head  of  the  sound  we  turn  abruptly  westward  into  the 
L?5,nui  Pissaff<?,  and  on  its  western  shores  we  see 
nearly  the  first  sign  of  civilization  in  the  inland  passage, 
the  Ind.an  village  of  Bella  Bella,  holding  probably  a 
dozen  native  houses  and  a  fair  looking  church,  while  a 
few  cattle  grazing  near  the  x)lacehadastill  more  civilized 
air. 

As  we  steamed  through  Seaforth  Channel,   a  most 
tortuous  affair,  Indians  were  seen  paddling  in  their  huge 


\s 


fr 


SCENES   tS   THE    INLAND    PASSAGE. 


THE  ISLAND  PASSAGE  TO  ALASKA. 


21 


cano(»H  from  out*  islund  to  anotlicr  or  alon^  the  high,  rocky 
shores,  a  cheering  sign  of  hahitution  not  previously 
noticed. 

The  great  fault  of  the  inlan<l  i)assage  as  a  resort  for 
tourists  is  in  the  constant  dread  of  fogs  that  nuiy  at  any 
time  during  certain  months  of  the  year  completely 
ol>scure  the  grand  scenery  that  tempted  the  tmvelers 
thither.  The  waters  of  the  Paciti(!  ()<rean  on  the  sea- 
board of  Alaska  are  but  u  deflected  continuation  of  the 
warm  equatorial  current  called  the  Kuro  Siwo  of  the 
Japanese  ;  from  these  wat«'rs  the  air  is  laden  with 
moisture,  which  being  thrown  by  the  variable  winds 
against  the  snow-clad  and  glacier-covered  sumnuts  of 
the  higher  mountains,  is  precipitated  as  fog  and  light 
niin,  and  oftentimes  every  thing  is  wmi)j)ed  for  weeks 
in  these  most  annoying  mists.  July,  with  June  and 
August,  are  by  far  the  most  favorable  months  for  tlie 
traveler.  The  winter  months  are  execrable,  with  storms 
of  rain,  snow  and  sleet  constantly  occurring,  the  former 
along  the  Pacilic  frontage,  and  the  latter  near  the 
channels  of  the  mainland. 

Milbank  Sound  gave  us  another  taste  oi  che  ocean 
swells  which  spoiled  the  flavor  of  our  food  comjjletely, 
for  although  we  were  only  exposed  for  less  than  an  hour 
that  hour  happened  to  come  just  about  dinner  time ; 
after  which  we  entered  Finlayson  Passage,  stmie  twenty- 
five  miles  long.  This  is  a  pai-ticularly  picturesque  and 
bold  channel  of  water,  its  shores  covered  with  shaggy 
conifers  as  high  as  the  eye  can  reach,  and  the  mountains, 
with  their  crowns  of  snow  and  ice,  furnishing  supplies  of 
spray  for  innumerable  beautiful  waterfalls.  At  many 
places  in  the  inland  passage  from  here  on,  come  down  the 


"Pin 


r  -  ^W' 


23 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RTVKR. 


.steeptiinbHi'erlinoiintuinstiitMiiostlM'aiitifiil  >v:it(>rfallsf<>d 
from  the  gliu'iers  iii(l(l«>ii  in  ihe  fo^.  At  every  few  miles 
we  pass  the  moiitiiH  of  inlets  and  channels,  leading  away 
into  the  moiintainuiis  eoiintry  no  one  knows  whither. 
There  are  no  charts  which  show  more  tlian  the  mouths 
of  these  inlets.  Out  of  or  into  tliese  an  occasional  canoe 
speeds  its  silent  way  perchance  in  quest  of  salmon  tliat 
liere  abound,  but  the  se<'rets  of  their  hidden  patlis  are 
locked  in  the  savage  mind.  How  tempting  they  must  be 
for  exploration,  and  how  strange  that,  although  so  easy 
of  access,  they  still  remain  unknown.  After  twisting 
around  through  a  few  '•reaches,"  channels  and  i)assages, 
we  enter  the  straightest  of  them  all,  (irenville  Channel, 
so  straight  that  it  almost  seems  to  have  been  mapped  by 
an  Indian.  As  you  steam  through  its  forty  or  lifty  miles 
of  mathematically  rectilinear  exactness  }ou  think  the 
sleei)y  pilot  might  tie  his  wheel,  put  his  heels  up  in  the 
spokes,  draw  his  hat  over  his  eyes  and  take  a  quiet  nap. 
In  one  i)lace  it  seems  to  be  not  over  two  wr  three  hundred 
yards  wide,  but  probably  is  double  that,  the  high  tower- 
ing banks  giving  a  dec!q)tive  imi)ression.  The  windiows 
through  the  timber  of  former  avalanches  of  snow  or  land- 
slides, now  become  thicker  and  their  effects  occasionally 
picturesque  in  the  very  devastation  created.  Beyond 
Grenville  Channel  the  next  important  stretch  of  salt 
■water  is  Chatham  Sound,  which  is  less  like  a  river  than 
any  yet  named.  Its  connection  with  Grenville  Channel 
is  by  the  usual  number  of  three  or  four  irregular  water- 
ways dodging  around  fair  sized  islands,  which  had  at 
one  time,  however,  a  certain  importance  because  it  was 
thought  that  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  might  make 
Skeena  Inlet  off  to  our  right  its  western  terminus. 


TIIK  ISLAXD  PASSAGE  TO  ALASKA. 


23 


\ 


f)n  lli«  2Urh  of  May,  very  early  in  the*  morning,  we 
crossed  Dixon  Kntranre,  and  were  once  more  on  Ameri- 
can soil,  that  is,  in  u  connnercial  sense,  the  United  States 
having  drawn  a  check  for  its  value  of  ^7,2(K),(KK),  and 
the  check  having  been  lionore<l  ;  but  in  regaril  to  govern- 
ment the  country  niav  be  called  no  man's  hind,  none 
existing  in  the  territory.  Dixon  Entrance  bore  on<'e  a 
Spanish  name  in  honor  of  its  discoverer,  a  name  wliich 
i.s  heard  no  more,  although  a  few  still  call  tlie  channel 
by  its  Indian  name,  Kaiganee.  Uroad  Dixon  Enti-.mce 
contracts  into  the  narrow  Portland  Inlet,  which,  putting 
back  into  the  mainland  ftir  some  seventy-live  miles,  forms 
the  water  boundarv  between  Alaska  and  British  Col- 
umbia.  From  here  it  becomes  a  tl»';ty  mile  wide  strip 
drawn  "parallel  to  tide-water,"  which  c(mtinues  with  a 
few  modifications  to  about  Mount  St.  Elias. 

The  forenoon  of  the  same  day  we  entered  Boca  de 
Quadra  Inlet,  where  a  pioneer  company  had  established 
a  salmon  cannery,  for  which  we  had  some  freight.  The 
cannery  was  about  half  completed  and  the  stores  were 
landed  on  a  raft  made  of  only  two  logs,  which  impressed 
me  with  the  size  of  the  Sitka  cedar.  The  largest  log 
was  probably  seventy-five  feet  long  and  fully  eight  feet 
at  the  butt.  It  is  said  to  be  imjiervious  to  the  teredo, 
which  makes  such  sad  havoc  with  all  otiier  kinds  of 
wood  sunk  in  salt  water.  Owing  to  its  fine  grain  and 
peculiar  odor,  handsome  chests  can  be  made  of  it  in 
which  that  universal  pest,  the  moth,  Avill  not  live.  It  is 
imrely  an  Alaskan  tree,  and  even  north  of  Quadra  Inlet 
it  is  found  in  its  densest  growth.  As  around  all  white 
habitations  in  frontier  lands,  we  found  the  usual  numl)er 
of  natives,  althou^  i  in  this  case  they  were  here  for  the 


24 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVEU. 


commendable  object  of  seeking  employment  in  catching 
salmon  whenever  the  run  should  commence.  Their 
canoes  are  constructed  of  the  great  cedar  tree,  by  the 
usual  Indian  method  of  hollowing  them  out  to  a  thin 
shell  and  then  boiling  water  in  them  by  thiowing  in  red 
hot  stones  in  the  water  they  hold,  jiroducing  pliability 
of  the  wood  by  the  steaming  process,  when,  by  means  of 
braces  and  ties  they  are  fashioned  into  nautical  "lines.'* 
The  peaks  of  the  prows  are  often  fantastically  carved 
into  various  insignia,  usually  spoken  of  as  "  totems," 
and  painted  in  wild  barbaric  designs  (see  page  43,)  the 
body  of  the  boat  being  covered  with  deep  black  made 
from  soot  and  seal  oil.  Crawling  along  under  the  somber 
shadows  of  the  dense  overhanging  trees  in  the  deep  dark 
passages,  these  canoes  can  liardly  be  seen  until  very  near, 
and  when  a  flash  of  the  water  from  the  paddle  reveals 
their  presence,  they  look  more  like  smugglers  or  pirates 
avoiding  notice  than  a^ny  thing  else.  The  genial  super- 
intendent, Mr.  Ward,  spoke  of  his  rambles  ui)  the 
picturesque  shores  of  the  inlet  and  his  adventures  since 
he  had  started  his  new  enterju'lse.  A  tii])  of  a  few  days 
before  up  one  of  the  diminutive  valleys  drained  by  a 
little  Alpine  broo]^,  had  rewarded  him  with  the  sight  of 
no  less  than  eight  bears  skurrying  around  thiough  the 
woods.  He  had  an  Indian  comi)anion  who  was 
armed  with  a  flint-lock,  smooth  bore  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany musket,  while  the  superintendent  had  a  shot  gun 
for  any  smr'll  game  that  might  happen  along,  and  even 
with  these  arms  they  succeeded  in  bagging  a  bear  apiece, 
both  being  of  the  black— or  small — variety.  Hunting 
the  little  black  bear  is  not  far  removed  from  a  good 
old-fashioned  "coon"  hunt,  and  not  much  more  dan- 


THE  INLAND  PASSAGE  TO  ALASKA. 


25 


gerous.  The  dogs,  mostly  the  sharp-eared,  sharp-nosed 
and  sharp-barking  Indian  variety,  once  after  a  bear, 
force  him  up  a  tree  to  i^iivc  his  liamstrings  being  nipped 
uncomfortably,  and  tlien  he  is  shot  out  of  it,  at  the 
hunter's  leisure,  and  if  wounded  is  so  small  and  easily 
handled  by  the  pack  of  dogs  that  he  can  hardly  be 
called  dangerous.  Not  so,  however,  with  tlie  great  brown 
bear,  or  barren-ground  bear  of  Alaska,  so  often  spoken 
of  in  these  parts  as  the  "grizzly'' from  his  similarity 
in  size  and  savageness  to  "the  California  King  of  the 
Chapparal,"  Everywhere  in  his  dismal  dominions  lie  is 
religiously  avoided  by  the  native  Nimrod,  who  declarer 
that  his  meat  is  not  fit  to  be  eaten,  that  his  robe  is  almost 
worthless,  and  that  he  constantly  keeps  the  wrong  end 
presented  to  his  pursuers.  Although  he  is  never  hunted 
encounters  with  him  are  not  altogether  unknown,  as  he  is 
savage  enough  to  become  the  hunter  himself  at  times, 
and  over  some  routes  the  Indians  will  never  travel  unless 
armed  so  as  to  be  fairly  protected  from  this  big  Bruin. 
This  Indian  fear  of  the  great  brown  bear  I  found  to  be 
co-exten<ive  with  all  my  travels  in  xVlaska  and  the 
British  North-west  Territory.  Mr.  Ward  told  me  that 
wherever  the  big  bear  was  i'ound,^the  little  black  variety 
made  his  presence  scarce,  as  the  two  in  no  way  affiliate, 
and  the  latter  occupies  such  country  as  the  abundance 
of  his  big  brother  will  allow.  These  districts  may  be 
intermixed  as  much  as  the  black  and  white  squares  on  a 
chess-board,  but  they  are  as  sharply,  though  not  as 
mathematically,  defined,  each  one  remaining  faithfully 
on  his  own  color,  so  to  speak.  A  new  repeating  rifle 
was  on  our  vessel  consigned  to  the  sportsman  super- 
intendent,   and '  he    expected    to    decrease    the    bear 


I 


26 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


census  during  the  summer,  so  far  as  his  duties  would 
allow. 

About  noon,  after  much  backing  and  putting  of  lines 
ashore,  and  working  on  them  from  the  donkey  engines 
fore  and  aft,  we  succeeded  in  turning  our  long  steamer 
in  the  narrow  channel,  the  pilot  remarking  in  reply  to 
the  captain's  inquiries  as  to  shoals,  that  he  wished  he 
could  exchange  the  depth  for  the  width  and  he  would 
have  no  trouble  in  turning  around. 

Through  this  jart  of  the  inland  passage  sea-otters  are 
said  to  be  found,  and  it  was  thought  that  one  or  two 
were  seen  by  some  of  the  people  on  board,  but  no  one 
could  vouch  for  the  discoverv. 

The  everlasting  mountain  scenery  now  commences  to 
pall  and  offers  nothing  in  the  way  of  the  picturesque 
except  the  same  old  high  mountains,  the  same  dense 
growth  of  timber  on  their  steep  sides,  and  the  same  salt- 
water canals  cutting  through  them.  A  valley  ^  iitting 
off  any  where  would  have  been  a  relief,  and  breaks  in 
the  uniformly  high  m.ountains  that  looked  as  if  they 
might  be  ravines,  so  persistently  became  other  arms  and 
canals  of  the  great  networks  of  passage,  that  we  were 
any  thing  but  sorry  when  a  fog  bank  settled  down  about 
two  hundred  feet  above  ou'*  eyes  and  cut  the  fjord  as 
sharply  at  that  heiglit  as  if  it  had  been  the  crest  line  of 
a  fortification  extending  off  into  miles  of  bastions  and 
covered  ways. 

Early  morning  on  the  30th  found  us  at  the  little  port 
of  Wrangell.  named  after  one  of  Russia's  many  fam 
ous  explorers  in  northern  regions.      It  was  the  most 
tumble-down  looking  company  of  cabins  I  ever  saw, 

#  

the   "Chinese   quarter"    (every  place  on   the  Pacific 


THE  INLAND  PASSAGE  TO  ALASKA. 


27 


coast  has  its  "Chinese  quarter"  if  it  is  only  a  single 
house)  being  a  wrecked  river  vessel  high  and  dry  on  the 
pebbly  beach,  which,  however,  was  not  much  inferior  to 
the  rest  of  the  town.  Not  far  from  here  comes  in  the 
Stickeen  river,  the  largest  stream  that  cuts  through  the 
south-eastern  or  "  tide-water  strip  "  of  Alaska.  About 
its  headwaters  are  the  Cassiar  mines  of  British 
Columbia,  and  as  the  Stickeen  river  is  the  nearest 
available  way  to  reach  them,  although  the  traveler's 
course  is  against  the  stream  of  a  mountain  torrent,  the 
circumstance  has  made  something  of  a  port  of  VVran- 
gell,  which  nearly  ten  years  ago  was  at  the  height  of  its 
glory  of  gold-dust  and  excitement.  Even  at  this  dis- 
tance the  dark  green  water  of  the  deep  channel  is  tinged 
with  a  white  chalky  color  ground  from  the  Hanks  of  the 
calcareous  hills  by  the  eroding  glaciers,  then  swept  into 
the  swift  river  and  by  it  carried  far  out  into  the  tortuous 
passages.  Every  stream,  however  small,  in  this  part  of 
the  world,  with  glaciers  along  its  course  or  upon  its  trib- 
utaries, carries  this  milk -like  wiiter  in  its  current. 

With  all  its  rickety  appearance  there  was  no  small 
amount  of  business  doing  in  AVrangell,  no  less  than  four 
or  five  fair  sized  backwoods  stores  being  there,  all  appar- 
ently in  thrifty  circumstances.  Indian  curiosities  of  all 
kinds  were  to  be  had,  from  carved  spoons  of  the  mount- 
ain goat  at  "two  bits"  (twenty-five  cents)  apiece  to  the 
most  elaborate  idols  or  tQt<inii(^  carvings.  A  fair  market 
is  found  for  these  articles  among  the  few  visitors  who 
travel  in  this  out-of-the-way  corner  of  the  earth,  and 
when  the  supi)ly  is  exhausted  in  any  line  the  natives 
will  immediately  set  to  work  to  satisfy  the  demand.  One 
huge  carved  horn  spoon  was  evidently  of  very  ancient 


98 


ALONG  /LASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


make  and  very  lip.*  workmanship,  an  old  pioneer  of  these 
regions  wlio  had  jwned  it  for  many  years  having  refused 
sixty  dollars  fo'  it  from  some  curiosity  collectors  only 
the  year  befor ;. 

Prom  Wra'  gell  we  debouched  w^estward  by  Sumner 
Strait,  the  v  ide  salt-water  river  that  continues  the  nar- 
row fresh-v  ater  river  of  Stickeen  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Betweer  five  and  six  in  the  afternoon  we  are  rounding 
Cape  Om  naney,  wliere  our  pilot  tells  us  it  storms  eight 
days  in  .he  week.  It  certainly  gave  us  double  rations  of 
wind  t'  iat  day,  and  many  retired  early.  Even  the  old 
SpauT  ill  navigators  who  first  laid  eyes  upon  it  must  have 
born  .'  it  a  grudge  to  have  called  it  Pu7ita  Oestc  de  la 
En  rada  del  Principe ;  all  its  geographical  character- 
istics and  relations  being  shouldered  on  it  for  a  name. 

Early  next  morning  we  were  in  the  harbor  of  Si^^ka,  or 
New  Archangel,  as  the  Russians  called  it  when  they  had 
it  for  their  capital  of  this  province.  The  strong,  bold 
bluffs  of  the  interior  passages  now  give  way  to  gentler 
elevations  along  the  Pacific  seaboard,  but  th  country 
gradually  rises  from  the  coast  until  but  a  few  miles  back 
the  same  old  cloud-capped,  snow-covered  peaks  recur, 
and  as  we  stand  well  out  to  sea  they  look  as  abrupt  as 
ever.  * 

Sitka  is  a  picturesque  place  when  viewed  from  any 
point  except  from  within  the  town  limits.  From  the 
south-west,  looking  north-east,  Mount  Edgecumbe  (of 
Cook)  affords  a  beautiful  background  against  the  west- 
ern sky,  and  when  that  is  full  of  low  white  clouds  the 
abrupt  manner  in  which  the  point  of  the  mountain  is  cut 
off  gives  it  the  appearance  of  being  buried  in  the  clouds, 
thus  seeming  several  times  higher  than  it  really  is. 


r 


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o 
0 


2.  ^ 
an   H 


I'  ► 

w  • 

3 


g 


? 


I 


^- 


I 


\ 


THE  INLAND  PASSAGE  TO  ALAilKA. 


81 


The  harbor  of  Sitka  is  so  full  of  small  islands  that 
looking  at  it  from  a  height  it  seems  as  if  it  could  only  be 
mapped  with  a  pepper-box,  and  one  wonders  how  any 
vessel  can  get  to  her  wharf.  Once  alongside,  the  water 
seems  as  clear  as  the  atmosphere  above,  and  the  smallest- 
objects  can  be  easily  identified  at  the  bottom,  though 
there  must  have  been  fully  thirty  or  forty  feet  of  water 
where  we  made  our  observations. 

On  one  of  the  large  islands  in  Sitka  harbor,  called 
Japanese  Island,  an  old  Niphon  junk  was  cast,  early  in 
the  present  century,  and  her  small  crew  of  Jai)anese 
were  rescued  by  the  Russians.  Sitka  has  been  so  often 
described  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  do  more  than  refer 
the  reader  to  other  accounts  of  the  place. 

Ten  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  of  the  31  st  saw  us  under 
way  steaming  northward,  still  keeping  to  the  inland 
passage,  and  en  route  to  deliver  wrecking  machinery  at 
a  point  in  Peril  Straits  where  the  Eureka,  a  smjiU 
steamer  of  the  same  line  to  which  our  ship  belonged,  had 
formerly  run  on  a  submerged  rock  in  the  channel,  which 
did  not  appear  upon  the  charts.  The  imfortunate  boat 
had  just  time  to  reach  the  shore  and  beach  herself  before 
she  filled  with  water.  The  Eureka's  wreck  was  reached 
by  two  in  the  afternoon,  and  as  our  boat  might  be  de- 
tained for  some  time  in  assisting  the  disabled  vessel, 
many  of  us  embraced  the  opportunity  to  go  ashore  in 
the  wilds  of  the  Alexander  Archipelago.  The  walking 
along  the  beach  between  high  and  low  tide  was  toler- 
able, and  even  agreeable  for  whole  stretches,  especially 
after  our  long  confinement  on  the  ship,  where  the  facili- 
ties for  promenading  were  poor.  To  turn  inland  from 
the  shore  was  at  once  to  commence  the  ascent  of  a  slope 


I 


I  i 


!■ 


I 


i    ^ 


I- 


89  ALONG  ALAlSKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 

that  might  vary  frcm  forty  to  eighty  degrees,  the  climb- 
ing of  which  almost  beggars  descrijition.  The  compact 
mass  of  evergreen  timber  had  looked  dense  enough  from 
the  ship,  but  at  its  feet  grew  a  denser  mass  of  tangled 
undergrowth  of  bushes  and  vines,  and  at  their  roots 
again  was  a  solid  carpeting  of  moss,  lichens,  and  ferns 
that  often  ran  up  the  trees  and  underbrush  for  heights 
greater  than  a  man's  reach,  and  all  of  it  moist  as  a 
sponge,  the  whole  being  absolutely  tropical  in  luxuri- 
ance. This  thick  carpet  of  moss  extends  from  the  shore 
line  to  the  edges  of  the  glaciers  on  the  mountain  sum- 
mit? and  the  constant  melting  of  the  ice  through  the 
warm  summer  supplies  it  with  water  which  it  absorbs 
like  a  sponge.  The  air  is  saturated  with  moisture  from 
the  warm  ocean  current,  and  every  thing  you  see  and 
touch  is  like  Mr.  Mantalini's  proposed  body,  "dem'd 
moist  and  unpleasant."  It  is  almost  impossible  to  con- 
ceive how  heavily  laden  with  tropical  moisture  the  atmos- 
phere is  in  this  supposed  sub- Arctic  colony  of  ours, 
It  oozes  up  around  your,  feet  as  you  walk,  and  drips 
from  overhead  like  an  April  mist,  and  nothing  is  exempt 
from  it.  Even  the  Indians'  tall,  dead  "totem-poles"  of 
hemlock  or  spruce,  which  would  make  fine  kindling 
wood  any  where  else,  bear  huge  clumps  of  dripping  moss 
and  foliage  on  their  tops,  at  heights  varying  from  ten 
to  thirty  feet  above  the  ground.  An  occasional  stray 
seed  of  a  Sitka  spruce  may  get  caught  in  this  elevated 
tangle,  and  make  its  home  there  just  as  well  as  if  it  were 
on  the  ground.  It  sprouts,  and  as  its  branches  run  up 
in  the  air,  the  roots  crawl  down  the  "totem-pole  "  until 
the  ground  is  reached,  when  they  bury  themselves  in  it, 
and  send  up  fresh  sustenance  to  the  trunk  and  limbs, 


f 


|Cv>' 


%  the  climb- 
'iie  coni[)act 
nough  from 
« of  tangled 
their  roots 
',  and  ferns 
for  heights 
moist  as  a 
in  luxuri- 
1  the  shore 
itain  snm- 
I'ongh  the 
it  absorbs 
iture  from 
•u  see  and 


THE  INLAND  PASSAGE  TO  ALASKA. 


88 


(( 


dem'd 
le  to  con- 
he  atmos- 
of  ours, 
nd  drips 
3  exempt 
oles"  of 
kindling 
ng  moss 
'om  ten 
tl  stray 
levated 
it  were 
'un  up 
'  until 
s  in  it, 
limbs, 


which  until  then  have  been  living  a  parasitic  sort  of  life 
oflf  the  decayed  moss.  This  is  shown  in  illustration  on 
page  19,  being  a  view  at  Kaigan  Village.  Imagine  a 
city  boy  tossing  a  walnut  from  a  fourth  story  window, 
and  its  lodging  on  top  of  a  telegraph  pole,  there  sprout- 
ing next  spring,  and  in  the  course  of  a  couple  of  years 
extending  its  roots  down  the  pole,  insinuating  them- 
selves in  the  crevices  and  splitting  it  open,  then  piercing 
the  pavement ;  the  tree  continuing  to  grow  for  years 
until  the  boy,  as  a  man,  can  reach  out  from  his  window 
and  pick  walnuts  every  fall,  and  the  idea  seems  in- 
credible ;  and  yet  the  equivalent  occurs  quite  often  in 
the  south-eastern  portions  of  our  distant  colony.  Nor 
is  all  this  marshy  softness  confined  to  the  levels  or  to 
almost  level  slopes,  as  one  would  imagine  from  one's  ex- 
jierience  at  home,  but  it  extends  up  the  steepest  places, 
where  the  climbing  would  be  hard  enough  without  this 
added  obstacle.  In  precipitous  slopes  where  the  foot 
tears  out  a  great  swath  of  moist  moss,  it  may  reveal  un- 
derneath a  slippery  shingle  or  shale  where  nothing 
but  a  bird  could  find  a  footing  in  its  present 
condition.  There  is  wonderful  preservative  power  in  all 
these  conditions,  for  nothing  seems  to  rot  in  the  ground, 
and  the  accumulated  timber  of  ages,  standing  and  fallen, 
stumps,  limbs,  and  trunks,  "criss-cross  and  tumble- 
tangled,"  as  the  children  say,  forms  a  bewildering  mass 
which,  covered  and  intertwined  as  it  is  with  a  compact 
entanglement  of  underbrush  and  moss,  makes  the  ascent 
of  the  steep  hillsides  a  formidable  undertaking.  A 
fallen  trunk  of  a  tree  is  only  indicated  by  a  ridge  of 
moss,  and  should  the  traveler  on  this  narrow  path 
deviate  a  little  too  far  to  the  right  or  left,  he  may  sink 


■v 


84 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


up  to  his  arm-pits  in  a  soft  mossy  trap  from  which  he 
can  scramble  as  best  he  may,  according  to  his  activity  in 
the  craft  of  "  backwoodsmanship."  Having  once  reached 
the  tops  of  the  lower  hills — the  higher  ones  are  covered 
with  snow  and  glacier  ice  the  year  round — a  few  small 
openings  may  be  seen,  which,  if  any  thing,  are  more  boggy 
and  treacherous  to  the  feet  than  the  hillsides  themselves, 
lagoon-like  morasses,  covered  with  pond  lilies  and 
aquatic  plant  life,  being  connected  by  a  network  of 
sluggish  canals  with  three  or  four  inches  of  amber 
colored  water  and  as  many  feet  of  soft  black  oozy  mud, 
with  here  and  there  a  clump  of  willow  brake  or  "  pussy- 
tails"  springing  above  the  waste  of  sedge  and  flags. 
In  these  bayou  openings  a  hunter  may  now  and  then 
run  across  a  stray  deer,  bear,  or  mountain  goat,  but,  in 
general,  inland  hunting  in  south-eastern  Alaska  is  a 
complete  failure,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  game  and  the 
labor  of  hunting. 

The  worst  part  of  Peril  Strait  being  ahead  of  us, 
we  backed  out  with  our  long  unwieldy  vessel  and  turned 
westward,  passing  out  late  in  the  evening  through 
Salisbury  Strait  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  ours  being, 
according  to  the  pilot,  the  first  steam  vessel  to  essay 
the  passage.  A  last  night  on  the  Pacific's  rolling  watei', 
and  early  next  morning  we  rounded  Cape  Ommaney, 
and  entered  the  inland  passage  of  Chatham  Strait, 
our  prow  once  more  pointed  northward,  the  sheet  of 
water  lying  as  quiet  as  a  mill  pond.  About  4  p.  m.  Ave 
reached  Killisnoo,  a  pretty  little  port  in  the  Strait. 
Cod-fish  abounding  here  in  unusual  numbers,  a  regular 
fishery  has  been  established  by  a  company  for  the  pur- 
pose of  catching  and  preserving  the  cod  for  the  markets 


; 


f 


i 


I 


THE  INLAND  PASSAGE  TO  ALASKA. 


3S 


f 


of  the  Pacific  coast.  Here  I  saw  many  ot  the  Kootznahoo 
Indians  of  the  place,  who  do  the  principal  iishing  for 
the  white  men.  Their  already  ugly  faces  were  plastered 
over  with  black,  for  which,  according  to  the  superintend- 
■ent,  there  were  two  causes.  A  few  of  the  Indians  were 
clad  in  mourning,  to  which  this  artificial  blackness  is  an 
adjunct,  while  the  remainder  followed  the  custom  in 
order  to  protect  their  faces  and  especially  their  eyes 
from  the  intense  glare  of  the  sun  on  the  water  while  fish- 
ing. Chatham  Strait  at  its  northern  end  subdivides 
into  Icy  Straits  and  Lynn  Canal,  the  latter  being  taken 
as  our  course.  At  its  northern  end  it  again  branches 
into  the  Chilkat  and  Chilkoot  Inlets,  the  former  being 
taken ;  and  at  its  head,  the  highest  northing  we  can  reach 
.in  this  great  inland  salt-water  river,  our  voyage  on  the 
Victoria  terminated.  Icy  Sti*aits  lead  off  to  the  west- 
ward and  unite  with  the  Pacific,  by  way  of  Cross  Sound, 
the  most  northern  of  these  connecting  passages,  which 
marks  the  point  where  the  archipelago,  and  with  it  the 
inland  passage,  ceases,  for  from  here  northward  to  St. 
Elias  and  beyond  a  bold  bad  coast  faces  the  stormy 
Pacific,  and  along  its  frowning  cliffs  of  rock  and  ice  even 
the  amphibious  Indian  seldom  ventures. 


J 


[ 


-r 


CHAPTER  III. 


IN  THE  ClIILKAT  COUNTRY. 


CHII.KAT  BKA(!E- 
LRT  MADK  rKON 
8ILVBK  COIN. 


HILKAT  (;ountry  was  reached  on  tlu,  morn- 
ing of  the  2d  of  June  and  we  dropped  anchor 
in  a  most  picturesque  little  port  (railed  Pyra- 
mid Harbor,  its  name  being  derived  from  a 
(•onspi(nious  conical  island  that  the  Chilkats 
call  Schlay-hotch,  and  the  few  whites,  Pyra- 
mid Island,  shown  on  page  43.  There  were 
two  salmon  canneries  just  completed,  one  on  each  side 
of  the  inlet,  awaiting  the  "run"  or  coming  of  salmon, 
which  occurred  about  two  weeks  later.  Each  cannery  wjis 
manned  by  about  a  half  dozen  white  men  as  directors 
and  workmen  in  the  trades  departments,  tiie  Ohilkats 
doing  the  rougher  work,  as  well  as  furnishing  the  fish. 
They  differed  in  no  material  respect  from  the  salmon  en n- 
neries  of  the  great  Columbia  River,  so  often  described. 
Just  above  them  comes  in  the  Chilkat  river,  with  a  broad 
shallow  mouth,  which,  at  low  water  (sixteen  feet  below 
high  water)  looks  like  a  large  sand  ilat  forming  part  of 
the  shores  of  the  harbor.  On  these  ha  rs  the  Indians  spear 
the  salmon  when  the  water  is  just  dwp  enough  to  allow 
them  to  wade  around  readily. 

Up  this  Chilkat  river  are  the  different  villages  of  the 
Chilkat  Indians,  one  of  fifteen  or  twenty  houses  being  in 
sight,  on  the  east  bank,  the  largest,  however,  which  con- 
tains four  Or  live  times  as  many  houses,  called  Kluk-wan,, 


i 

4 


'I 


JN  THE  CHILKAT  COUNTRY. 


97 


i 


i 


being  quite  a  distanre  up  the  river.  These  Chilkats  are 
subdivided  into  a  number  of  smaller  elans,  named  after 
the  various  animals,  birds  and  fishes.  Ai  about  the  time 
of  my  arrival  the  chief  of  the  ('row  cl'in  l..wl  died,  and  as 
he  was  a  very  important  person,  a  most  sumptuous  fu- 
neral was  expected  to  last  about  a  week  or  ten  days. 
These  funerals  are  nothing  but  a  series  of  feasts,  i)ro- 
tracted  a(;cording  to  the  importance  of  the  deceased,  and 
as  they  are  furnished  at  the  exi)ense  of  the  adnnnistra- 
tors  or  executors  of  the  dead  man's  estate,  every  Indian 
from  far  and  wide,  full  of  veneration  for  the  dead  and  a 
desire  for  victuals,  (tongregiites  at  the  pleasant  ceremo- 
nies, and  gorges  to  his  utmost,  being  worthless  for  work 
for  another  week  afterward.  As  I  urgently  needed  some 
three  or  four  score  of  these  Indians  to  carry  my  effects 
on  their  backs  across  the  Alaskan  coast  range  of  mount- 
ains to  the  head  waters  of  the  Yukon  river,  this  pro- 
longed funeral  threatened  seriously  to  prevent  my  getting 
away  in  good  time.  Ranking  me  as  a  chief,  I  was  invited 
to  the  obsequies  and  promised  a  very  conspicuous  posi- 
tion therein,  especially  on  the  last  day  when  the  body 
was  to  be  burned  on  a  huge  funeral  pyre  of  dry 
resinous  woods.  Cremation  is  the  usual  method  of  dis- 
posing of  the  dead  among  these  people,  the  i)riests  or 
medicine  men  being  the  only  ones  exempt.  The  latter 
claim  a  sort  of  infallibility  and  all  of  their  predictions, 
acts,  and  influences  capable  of  survival,  live  after  them 
so  long  as  their  bodies  exist,  but  should  these  be  lost  by 
drowning,  devouring,  or  cremation,  this  infallibility 
ceases.  Therefore  these  defunct  doctors  of  savage  witch- 
craft inhabit  the  greatest  portion  of  the  few  graveyards 
that  one  sees  scattered  here  and  there  over  the  shores  of 


38 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


the  channels  and  inlets  that  penetrate  the  country.  Cre 
mation  is  not  always  resorted  to,  however,  with  the  laity, 
for  whenever  convenience  dictates  otherwise,  they  too 
may  be  buried  in  boxes,  and  this  practice,  I  understand, 
is  becoming  more  common.  Cremation  is  a  savage  honor, 
nevertheless,  and  slaves  were  not  entitled  to  the  rite.  All 
the  Indian^  were  extremely  anxious  that  I  should  attend 
the  obsequies  of  their  dear  departed  friend,  for  if  I  did 
they  saw  that  they  might  also  be  present  and  yet  feel 
sure  of  employment  on  my  expedition  over  the 
mountains.  I  declined  the  invitation,  however,  and 
by  being  a  little  bit  determined  managed  to 
persuade  enough  strong  sturdy  fellows  away  to  do  my 
proposed  packing  in  two  trips  over  the  pass,  which  had 
the  effect  of  inducing  the  others  to  come  forward  in  suf- 
ficient numbers  to  accomplish  the  work  in  a  single  jour- 
ney, and  preparations  were  commenced  accordingly. 
These  preparations  consisted  mostly  in  assorting  our 
effects  with  reference  to  every  thing  that  we  could 
possibly  leave  behind,  taking  as  little  as  we  could 
make  our  way  through  with,  and  putting  that  little  into 
convenient  bags,  boxes,  and  bundles  of  about  one  hund- 
red pounds  each,  that  being  the  maximum  load  the  In- 
dians could  well  carry  over  such  Alpine  trails.  Some 
boys,  eight  or  ten,  even  came  forward  to  solicit  a  share 
in  the  arduous  labor,  and  one  little  urchin  of  not  over 
fourteen,  a  son  of  the  Chilkat  chief.  Shot-rich,  manfully 
assumed  the  responsibility  of  a  sixty-eight  pound  box, 
the  distance  he  had  to  carry  it  being  about  thirty  miles, 
but  thirty  miles  equal  to  any  one  hundred  and  thirty  on 
the  good  roads  of  a  civilized  country.  There  were  a  few 
slaves  among  my  numerous    Indian  packers,   slavery 


I 
i 


IN  THE  CHILKAT  COUNTRY. 


39 


s  *• 


•) 


having  once  iiourished  extensively  among  the  Cliilkats, 
but  having  diminished  both  in  vigor  and  extent,  in 
direct  ratio  to  their  contact  with  the  whiles.  Formerly, 
slaves  were  treated  in  the  many  barbarous  ways  common 
to  savage  countries,  sacrificed  at  festivals  and  religious 
ceremonies,  and  kept  at  the  severest  tasks.  They  were 
often  tied  in  huge  leathern  sacks  stretched  at  full 
length  on  the  hard  stony  ground  and  trodden  to  death. 
The  murderers,  great  muscular  men,  would  jump  up  and 
down  on  their  bodies,  singing  a  wild  death  chant,  with 
their  fists  clinched  across  their  breasts,  every  cracking  oi 
a  rib  or  bone  being  followed  by  loud  shouts  of  derisive 
laughter.  Sometimes  the  slave  was  bound  to  huge 
bowlders  at  the  water's  edge  at  low  tide,  and  as  the 
returning  waves  came  reeling  in  and  slowly  drowned 
the  wretch,  his  cries  were  deafened  by  the  hideous 
shouts  from  the  spectators  on  the  land.  Of  course,  as 
with  all  slave-holders,  an  eye  was  kept  open  toward 
mercenary  views,  and  the  sacrifices  were  nearly  always 
of  the  aged,  infirm,  or  decrepit ;  those  who  had  ceased 
to  be  useful  as  interpreted  by  their  own  savage  ideas 
of  usefulness.  Entering  a  Chilkat  house  nowadays,  one 
can  hardly  distiugaish  a  slave  from  the  master,  unless 
one  is  acquainted  with  the  insignificant  variations  in 
dress  which  characterize  them,  and  while  the  slaves  are 
supposed  to  do  all  the  work  the  enforcement  of  the  rule 
appears  to  be  very  lax.  Still  it  is  interesting  to  know 
that  the  fourteenth  amendment  to  the  United  States 
constitution  is  not  held  inviolable  in  all  parts  of  that 
vast  country.  As  among  nearly  al.  savages,  the  women 
are  brutalized,  but  they  appear  to  have  one  prerogative 
of  the  most  singular  character,  that  is  well  worth  relat- 


M 


p 


40 


ALONG  ALASKA  S  GREAT  RIVEli. 


ing.  Nearly  every  thiig  descends  on  the  mother's  side, 
yet  a  chattel  may  be  owned,  or  at  least  controlled,  by  the 
men,  although  a  traveler  will  notice  many  bargains 
wherein  the  woman's  consent  is  lirst  obtained.  The 
royal  succession  is  most  oddly  managed  with  reference 
to  Avomen's  rights.  The  heir-apparent  to  the  thione  is 
not  the  oldest  or  any  other  child  of  the  king  and  queen, 
but  is  the  queen's  nearest  blood  relative  of  the  male  per- 
suasion, although  the  relationship  may  be  no  closer,  per- 
haps, than  that  of  cousin.  As  this  uiriously  chosen 
king  may  marry  any  woman  of  the  tribe,  it  is  easy  to 
see  that  any  one  may  in  this  indirect  way  become  the  sov- 
ereign of  the  savages^  and  with  the  help  of  luck  alone, 
may  acquire  royal  honors.  One  rich  Indian  womn~»  of 
Sitka  who  took  a  fancy  to  a  slave,  purchased  him  for  the 
purpose  of  converting  liiiu  into  a  husband,  at  a  cost  of 
nearly  a  thousand  dollars  in  goods  and  chattels,  and  if 
he  was  not  very  expensive  thereafter  he  may  have  been 
cheai)er  than  the  usual  run  of  such  bargains.  When  a 
couple  of  Chilkats  tie  the  nuptial  knot,  they  at  once,  if 
possible,  adopt  a  boy  and  a  girl,  although  these  can 
hardly  be  said  to  stand  in  the  place  of  adopted  children, 
when  it  is  understood  tl  at  they  are  really  a  conjugal 
reserve  corps  for  the  bride  and  bridegroom  in  case  of 
death.  Should  the  man  die  the  boy  becomes  the  widow's 
husband  without  further  ceremony,  and  tice  versa.  Of 
course  such  conjugal  mixtures  present  the  most  incon- 
gruous aspects  in  the  matter  of  age,  but  happily  these 
examples  are  infrequent. 

This  Chilkat  country  is  most  thoroughly  Alpine  in 
character,  and  in  the  quiet,  still  evenings,  far  up  on  the 
steep  hillsides,  where  the  dense  spruce  timber  is  broken 


1 'risVHiBsSSBBBHTtm 


rl 


m 
the 
ten 


IN  THE  CHILKAT  COUNTRY. 


41 


up  by  natural  clearings,  one  could  often  see  a  brown  or 
black  bear  come  out  and  nose  around  to  get  at  some  of 
the  many  roots  and  berries  that  there  abound,  and  more 
than  once  I  was  a  spectator  of  a  bear  hunt,  for  as  soon 
as  Bruin  put  in  an  appearance  there  was  always  some 
Indian  hunter  ambitious  enough  to  toil  up  the  steep 
mountain  sides  after  him.  I  have  spoken  of  their 
extreme  fear  of  the  great  brown  or  cinnamon  bear,  which 
they  seldom  attack.  So  great  indeed  is  the  Chilkats* 
respect  for  him  that  the  most  aristocratic  clan  is  calljd 
the  Cinnamon  Bears.  Anotlier  higli  class  clan  is  the 
Crows,  the  plebeian  divisions  being  the  Wolves  and 
Whfiles,  and  the  division  line  is  so  strong  that  it  leads 
to  feuds  between  the  clans  that,  in  respect  of  slaughter, 
are  almost  entitled  to  the  name  of  wars,  while  between 
the  high  and  low  caste  intermarriage  is  almost  unknown. 
As  the  Brown  Bears,  or  Cinnamon  Bears  us  they  are  gen- 
erally called,  are  the  highest  clan,  so  copper  is  their  most 
highly  prized  metal.  With  copper  the  Chilkats  have 
always  been  familiar,  gold  and  silver  coming  with  the 
whites;  and  therefore  a  brown  bears  head  carved  in 
copper  is  their  most  venerated  charm.  In  regard  to 
engraving  and  sculpture  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
the  Chilkats  stand  well  in  the  front  rank  of  savage  artists. 
When  civilization  first  came  in  contact  with  these  people 
they  were  in  the  paleolithic  storie  age  of  that  material, 
and  their  carvings  were  inarvels  of  design  and  execution, 
although  subseiving  the  simplest  wants  of  a  simple 
people.  Of  metals  they  possessed  only  copper,  and  that 
in  such  small  quantities  as  to  be  practically  out  of 
the  account.  With  the  whites  came  gold  and  silver, 
and  the  latter  from  its  comparative  cheapness  became 


42 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  LIVER. 


':         L 


their  favorite  metal.  Coins  were  hammered  out  into 
long  slender  bars,  bent  into  bracelets,  and  then  beau- 
tifully engraved,  some  of  their  designs  having  been 
borrowed  from  civilization  and  copied  faithfully  in 
detail,  although  the  old  savage  ideas  of  workmanship 
are  for  obvious  reasons  preferred  by  most  purchasers. 
Some  of  their  women  wear  a  dozen  or  more  bracelets 
on  each  arm,  covering  them  up  to  the  elbows  and 
beyond,  but  this  seems  to  be  only  a  means  of  preserving 
them  until  the  arrival  of  white  customers,  when  they 
are  sold  at  °  •'  \^  one  to  five  or  six  dollars  a  pair 
according  to  i-  width.  The  initial  piece  of  this 
chapter  is  sketched  from  one  in  the  i)ossession  of  the 
author  and  made  by  one  of  his  hired  Indians.  Ear-rings, 
finger-rings,  beads  and  ornamental  combs  for  the  hair 
are  made  of  silver  and  gold,  mostly  of  silver  ;  and  the 
Chilkats  seem  to  be  as  imitative  in  respect  to  ideas 
and  designs  as  the  Mongolians,  whose  talents  are  so  much 
better  known.  It  is  in  wood  and  horn,  however,  that 
their  best  examples  of  this  art  have  been  displayed,  and 
so  unique  and  intricate  are  they  that  language  is  inade- 
quate to  describe  them.  Of  wood  carvings  their  "  totem  " 
poles  show  the  cleverest  workmanship  and  variety  of 
<lesign.  The  exact  significance  of  these  totem  polos 
remains  still  undetermined,  and  the  natives  themselves 
seem  averse  to  throwing  much  light  on  the  subject. 
This  fact  alone  would  appear  to  indicate  a  superstitious 
origin.  Some  say  the  totem  poles  represent  family 
genealogies,  life  histories,  and  tribal  accounts,  all  of 
which  conjectures  may  be  well  founded.  They  are 
simply  logs  of  wood  standing  on  end  in  front  of  the 
houses,  and  facing  the  water.    This  face  is  covered  from 


IN  THE  CHILKAT  COUNTRY. 


43 


top  to  bottom,  for  a  height  of  from  five  to  thirty  feet, 
with  the  most  curious  carvings,  as  sliown  to  a  limited 
extent  on  l«ige  19.  The  "totem"  or  tribal  symbol, 
which  may  be  a  wolf,  a  bear,  a  raven,  or  a  fish,  often 
predominates,  while  representations  of  crouching  human 


rVKAMIl)    HARBOR,    CHILKAT   INLKT. 

(Chilkiit  Indian  Cuiioc  in  the  foreground.) 

figures  are  favorite  designs.  The  m.aking  of  totem  pt>les 
has  ceased  among  the  Indians,  although  they  carefully 
preserve  those  that  still  exist.  Still  many  of  them  fall 
into  the  clutches  of  white  men  in  compensation  for  a  few 
dollars,  and  hardly  a  museum  of   note  in  the    coun- 


try  but  displays  a  Tlint  •.  • 

posses,  extensive  cCi^,';  „*:"""  P^K  "  *"-°'  ^'''"'  -"e 
n  th.  isolated  poles  stand,^„  i„  j!  '^■''/""ng  is  shown 
frequently  the  houses  themsel ^17"   "'  *"^-'""'^''''  ""* 
'"conspicuous  places  to  su  tie  oT  'T'^''''''^ -rved 

^ome  of  theso  houses  are  l,t      ""''  '»"«y- 
hoasemaking,  the  g,^at  thick  t„rr'""*'  '"'  ^^^e 
floor  being  often  quite  wel    J,-"   T  '"""'^^  «^  *« 
"eatly  covered  with  white  slnd'^    ':';•'•   "'  "*  ''"^  ™te 
■«-e  made  in  the  larger  and  m  '"**'  ''tcivilimion 

partitioning  the  hu^e  hovel  ZT"  ""'''""'"«•'  ''"""es  by 
Pf  r^s  ot  Cloth  or  oatas       ^sl^T  .'"  '"'^'^  «'  ''- 
•"gh  as  it  can  be  cut  in    L       „       "'""•  ''  ""de  as 
«teps  trom  the  outside,  while  .  ,2    ""'  '^  ''^^'•ed  by 
'"'oess  to  the  floor.    n^IT  "  «™>larflight  inside  gives 
.      "om,  enough  o,  the  fl^  "b"ir"""  '"^  "««»  "^  the 

^i^indleddi^tly  onThe^ldT'  *"  ^"<"^  '*  ^ 
by  a  huge  hole  i„  the  roo'     Th  ""'"'''  ^^aping 

houses  are  squalid  beyondn...  '"^*  "'*J""'ty  of  the 
"u-moke  of  the  spruce'nd "TnlT  T  ''"' '""'''  --' 
a  funereal  tinge,  and  fills  he  h"  ^^™'  the  walls  with 
"'hen  mingled  with  that  of  ^         '  "'"'  ■*"  ""or  which 

^^-Hike  leaving  his  c':   a  ttr  ^ ''"""'"'- -         ■ 
takes  no  stretch  of  the  im  ^"'^  P'^'ng  on      r* 

-hH«ctu.  p^vid!  r  m:r  °  'r  ""^'^^  ^^^^  -h 

'e»«t  needed,  and  it  is  !T !T     ***  ^""*'    tion  when 
the  Chilkats  are  cold  and   i       """*  '^^  '^'"ter  hon„  oJ 
;'t  couched  aronXTii:  -1::^  *!"':^^^'^^    Z^ 
folded  about  then,  and  even  d'        "  '"'""^''*'  "'"^^'y 
the   house   serving  i„de!I  "     ""*"  ''"^^  their  heads 
«-e    wind    and^deej   sit   d-r*"*"™   '"""«- 
'''"y    'ook    on    al,   tSsZlisS:'   l"'  ""    --■ 

s'lness,    however,    with 


IN  THE  CHILKAT  COUNTRY. 


45 


a  sort  of  Spartan  fortitude  as  necessary  to  toughen 
them  and  inure  them  to  the  rough  climate,  and  at  times, 
impelled  by  this  belief,  they  will  deliberately  expose 
themselves  with  that  object  in  view.  When  the  rivers 
and  lakes  are  frozen  over  the  men  and  boys  break  great 
holes  in  the  ice  and  plunge  in  for  a  limited  swim,  then 
come  out,  and  if  a  bank  of  soft  saow  is  convenient  roll 
around  in  it  like  so  many  polar  bears  ;  and  when  they 
get  o  cold  that  they  can't  tell  the  truth  they  wander 
leisurely  back  to  the  houses  and  remark  that  they  have 
had  a  nice  time,  and  believe  they  have  done  something 
toward  making  themselves  robust  Chilkat  citizens  able 
to  endure  every  thing.  There  is  no  w  onder  that  such 
people  adopt  cremation  ;  and  in  fact  one  interpretation 
of  its  religious  significance  is  based  on  the  idea  of  future 
personal  warmth  in  the  happy  hunting  grounds,  which 
they  regard  as  a  large  island,  whose  shores  are  unattain- 
able except  by  those  whose  bodies  have  been  duly  con- 
sumed by  fire.  Unless  the  rite  of  cremation  has  been 
performed  the  unhappy  shade  shivers  perpetually  in 
outer  frost.  It  is  the  impossibility  of  cremation  which 
makes  death  by  drowning  so  terrible  to  a  Chilkat. 

The  reason  that  the  fiJiamanfi,  or  medicine  men  (whose 
bodies  are  not  cremated)  have  no  such  dread,  is  that  their 
souls  do  not  pass  to  the  celestial  island,  but  are  trans- 
lated into  the  bodies  of  infants,  and  in  this  way  the  crop 
of  medicine  men  never  diminishes,  whatever  may  be  the 
status  of  the  rest  of  the  population.  Dreams  and 
divinations,  or  various  marks  of  the  child's  hair  or  face, 
are  relied  upon  to  determine  into  which  infant  the 
supreme  and  mysterious  power  of  the  defunct  doctor  of 
Tlinkit  divinity  has  entered.     To  enumerate  all  of  these 


I 


46 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


signs  would  concume  more  of  my  space  than  the  subject 
is  wortli.  When  a  Chilkat  dies  tlie  body  is  bunied  at 
sunrise,  having  first  been  dressed  for  tlie  ceremony  in  a* 
costume  more  elaborate  than  any  which  it  ever  wore  in 
life.  The  corpse  must  not  be  carried  out  at  the  door, 
which  is  deemed  sacred,  a  superstition  very  common 
among  savage  races.  A  few  boards  may  be  taken  from 
the  rear  or  side  of  the  hovel,  or  the  body  may  be  hoisted 
through  the  ca^jacious  chimney  in  the  roof  ;  but  when  the 
Chilkat  in  his  last  illness  sought  his  house  to  lie  down 
and  die  in  it  he  passed  over  its  threshold  for  the  last 
time.  Demons  and  dark  spirits  hover  around  like  vul- 
tures, and  are  only  kept  out  of  doors  by  the  dreaded 
incantations  of  the  medicine  men,  and  these  may  seize 
the  corpse  as  it  passes  out.  So  fiendishly  eager  are  they 
to  secure  and  stab  their  prey  that  all  that  is  needed  is  to 
lead  out  a  dog  from  the  house,  which  has  been  brought 
into  it  at  night,  when  the  witches  fall  upon  it  and  exhaust 
their  strength  in  attacking  it  before  they  discover  their 
mistake.  The  cremation  is  seldom  perfect,  and  the 
charred  bones  and  remnants  are  collected  and  put  into  a 
small  box  standing  on  four  posts  in  the  nearest  graveyard. 
In  the  burial  of  medicine  men,  or  before  cremation  with 
others,  the  bodies  are  bent  into  half  their  length,  the 
knees  drawn  up  to  the  breast  and  secured  by  thongs  and 
lashings. 

A  Avalk  into  the  woods  around  Chilkat  shows  the 
traveling  to  be  somewhat  better  than  in  equally  mount- 
ainous coun^^y  near  the  coast,  and  where  paths  had  been 
cut  through  the  dense  timber  to  the  charcoal  pits  f  onued 
and  maintained  by  the  canneries,  the  walking  was -ex- 
ceedingly agreeable  and  pleasant,  especially  by  way  of 


IN  THE  CHILKAT  COUNTRY. 


47 


contrast.  As  one  recedes  from  the  coast  and  gets  beyond 
the  iniiuence  of  the  warm  Japanese  current  with  its 
ceaseless  fogs,  rains  and  precipitation  generally,  the 
woods  and  marshes  become  more  and  more  susceptible 
of  travel,  and  by  the  time  the  Alaska  coast  range  of 
mountains  is  crossed  and  the  interior  reached,  one  finds 
it  but  little  worse  than  the  tangle-woods  and  swamps  of 
lower  latitudes.  The  waters  swarm  with  life,  which  is 
warmed  by  this  heat-bearing  current,  and  I  think  I  do 
not  exaggerate  in  saying  that  Alaska  and  its  numerous 
outlying  islands  will  alone,  in  the  course  of  a  short  time, 
repay  us  annually  more  than  the  original  cost  of  the  great 
territory.  By  means  of  these  industries  the  wedge  has 
begun  to  enter,  and  we  may  hope  it  will  be  driven  home 
by  means  of  a  wise  administration  of  government,  a 
boon  which  has  been  denied  to  Alaska  since  the 
Russians  left  the  territory. 

The  principal  fisheries  will  always  be  those  of  salmon 
and  cod,  since  these  fish  are  most  readily  prepared  for 
export,  while  halibut,  Arctic  smelt  or  candle-fish,  brook 
trout,  flounders  and  other  species  will  give  ample  variety 
for  local  use.  The  salmon  has  long  been  the  staple  fish 
food  of  the  Chilkats,  but  this  is  slowly  giving  way  to 
the  products  of  civilization  which  they  acquire  in  return 
for  services  at  the  canneries  and  for  loading  and  unload- 
ing the  vessels  which  visit  the  port.  The  salmon  season 
is  ushered  in  with  considerable  ceremony  by  the  Chil- 
kats, numerous  festivals  mark  its  success  and  its  close  is 
celebrated  by  other  feasts.  A  Chilkat  village  during  the 
salmon  fishing  season  is  a  busy  place.  Near  the  water, 
loaded  with  the  fish,  their  pink  sijjles  cut  open  ready  for 
drying,  are  the  scaffoldings,  which  are  built  just  high 


■■ 


i! 


48 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


enough  to  prevent  the  dogs  from  investigating  too 
closely  ;  while  out  in  the  shallow  water  of  the  shoals  or 
rapids,  which  often  determine  the  site  of  a  village,  may 
be  seen  tish- weirs  looking  like  stranded  baskets  that  had 
served  their  purpose  elsewhere  and  been  thrown  away  up 
the  stream,  and  which  had  lodged  here  as  they  floated 
down.  Many  of  the  salmon  are  converted  into  flsh-oil, 
which  is  used  by  the  Chilkats  as  food,  and  resembles  a 
cross  between  our  butter  and  the  blubber  of  the  Eskimo. 
Taking  a  canoe  that  is  worn  out,  yet  not  so  badly  dam- 
aged as  not  to  be  completely  water-tight,  it  is  filled  some 
six  to  eight  inches  deep  with  salmon,  over  which  water  is 
poured  until  the  fish  are  well  covered.  This  being  done 
on  the  beach  there  are  always  plenty  of  stones  around, 
and  a  number  of  these  are  heated  to  as  high  a  tempera- 
ture as  possible  in  an  open  fire  alongside  of  the  canoe, 
and  are  then  rapidly  thrown  into  the  water,  bringing 
it  to  a  boiling  heat,  and  cooking  the  mass.  As  the  oil 
of  the  fat  fish  rises  to  the  surface  it  is  skimmed  off  w^ith 
spoons,  and  after  all  has  been  procured  that  it  is  possible 
to  obtain  by  this  means,  the  gelatinous  mass  is  pressed  so 
as  to  get  whatever  remains,  and  all  is  preserved  for  win- 
ter food.  The  salmon  to  be  dried  are  split  open  along  the 
back  until  they  are  as  flat  as  possible,  and  then  the  flesh 
is  split  to  the  skin  in  horizontal  and  vertical  slices  about 
an  inch  to  an  inch  and  a  half  apart,  which  facilitates  the 
drying  process.  Each  little  square  contracts  in  drying 
and  makes  a  convenient  mouthful  for  them  as  they 
scrape  it  from  the  skin  with  their  upper  canine  teeth  like 
a  beaver  peeling  the  bark  from  a  cottonwood  tree.  In 
packing  over  the  Alaska  coast  range  of  mountains,  a  task 
which  keeps  the  Indians  absent  from  three  to  five  days. 


? 


IN  THE  CHILKAT  COUNTRY 


49 


a  single  salmon  and  a  quart  of  Hour  are  considered  a  suf- 
ficient ration  per  man  for  even  that  severe  trip.  If  they 
are  working  for  white  men  the  employers  are  supposed 
to  furnish  the  flour  and  the  Indians  the  fish.  While 
these  Tlinkits  of  south-eastern  Alaska,  of  which  the 
Chilkats  and  Chilkoots  are  the  most  dreaded  and  war- 
like band,  are  a  most  jolly,  mirth-making,  and  often- 
times even  hilarious  crowd  of  people,  yet  any  thing  like 
a  practical  joke  played  upon  one  of  them  is  seldom 
appreciated  by  the  recipient  with  the  sheepish  satisfac- 
tion so  common  to  civilization.  An  army  officer,  Lieut. 
C  E.  S.  Wood,  who  spent  some  time  among  them 
sketching  and  drawing  something  besides  his  pay,  relates 
in  the  Century  Magazine  the  story  of  an  Indian  who 
laboriously  crawled  up  on  a  band  of  decoy  ducks  that 
soii^ebody  had  allowed  to  remain  anciiored  out  near  the 
water's  edge,  and  wasted  several  rounds  of  ammunition 
on  them  before  he  discovered  his  mistake.  Instead  of 
sneaking  back  into  the  brush,  dodging  through  out-of- 
the-way  by-paths  to  his  home,  and  maintaining  a  con- 
spicuous silence  thereafter,  as  we  of  a  more  civilized 
country  would  have  done  under  like  circumstances,  he 
sought  out  the  owner  of  the  decoys  and  demanded  direct 
and  indirect  damages  for  the  injuries  he  had  sufferied  and 
the  ammunition  he  had  wasted,  and  was  met  by  laughter, 
which  only  increased  his  persistency  until  his  demands 
were  satisfied  to  get  rid  of  him. 

At  one  of  the  two  salmon  canneries  of  •>  jf  jh  I  have 
spoken  as  being  in  Chilkat  Inlet,  there  was  also  kept  a 
trading  store,  and  here  the  Indians  would  bring  their 
furs  and  peltries  and  barter  for  the  articles  that  were  so 
temptingly  displayed  before  their  eyes ;  and  if  the  skins 


60 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


were  numerous  and  valuable  this  haggling  would  often 
continue  for  hourH,  as  the  Indian  never  counts  time  as 
worth  any  thing  in  his  bargains.  While  we  were  there 
an  Indian  brouglit  in  a  few  black  fox  skins  to  barter  for 
trading  material,  a  prime  skin  of  this  kind  being  worth, 
about  forty  dollars  in  goods  from  the  store,  and  grading 
from  that  down  to  nearly  one-fourth  of  the  amount.  At 
the  time  when  the  Chilkats  learned  the  great  value  of 
the  bla(?k  fox  skins,  not  many  years  back,  they  also 
learned,  in  some  unaccountable  way,  the  method  of  mak- 
ing them  to  order  by  staining  the  common  red  fox  or 
cross  fox  skin  by  the  application  of  some  native  form  of 
blacking,  probably  made  from  soot  or  charcoal.  Many 
su(!h  were  disposed  of  before  the  counterfeit  was 
detected,  and  even  after  the  cheat  was  well  known  the 
utmost  vigilance  was  needed  to  prevent  natives  i)laying 
the  trick  in  times  of  great  business  activity.  The 
method  of  detection  was  simply  to  place  the  skin 
on  any  hard  flat  surface  like  the  (!ounter  of  a  trader  s 
store,  and  rub  the  clean  hand  vigorously  and  with 
considerable  pressure  backward  and  forward  over 
the  fur  side  of  the  skin,  when,  if  the  skin  were 
dyed,  the  fact  would  be  shown  by  the  blackened  hand. 
This  fact  had  been  explained  to  us  by  the  trader,  and  the 
Doctor  entering  just  as  the  conversation  as  to  the  price 
became  animated,  and  perceiving  that  the  palmar  sur- 
face of  his  hand  was  well  soiled  and  blackened,  owing 
to  his  having  been  engaged  assorting  packs  for  our 
Indians,  he  playfully  stepped  up  to  the  counter,  ran  his 
hand  jauntily  through  the  skin  once  or  twice  and  dis- 
played to  the  two  traders  his  blackened  palm,  to  the 
surprise  of  the  w^hite  man  and  absolute  consternation 


-f  > 


IN  THE  CHILKAT  COUNTRY 


51 


of  the  Indian.  The  former  rapidly  but  unavailingly 
tried  to  verify  the  Doctor's  exijerinient,  when  the 
latter  broke  out  into  a  hearty  laugh,  in  which  the 
trader  joined.  Not  so  with  the  Indian ;  when  he 
recovered  his  senses  he  was  furious  at  the  imputation  on 
his  character ;  and  the  bes*  light  he  could  view  it  in, 
after  all  the  explanations,  was  that  it  had  been  a  con- 
spiracy between  the  two  white  men  to  get  the  skin  at 
low  rates,  and  the  plot  having  failed,  according  to  their 
own  confession,  and  he  himself  having  received  his  own 
price  to  quiet  him,  ought  to  be  satisfied.  The  Doctor 
remarked  as  he  finished  the  story,  that  he  did  not  believe 
there  was  the  remotest  sense  of  humor  among  the  whole 
band  of  Chilkat  or  Chilkoot  Indians.  The  constant  life 
of  the  Tlinkits  in  their  canoes  when  procuring  food  or 
at  other  occupations  on  the  water  has  produced,  in  con- 
formity with  the  doctrine  of  natural  selection  and  the 
survival  of  the  fittest,  a  most  conspicuous  prepondera- 
ting development  of  the  chest  and  upper  limbs  over  the 
lower,  and  their  gait  on  land,  resembling  that  of  aquatic 
birds,  is  scarcely  the  poetry  of  motion  as  we  understand 
it.  The  Chilkats,  however,  are  not  so  confined  to  a  sea- 
faring life,  and  their  long  arduous  trading  journeys  in- 
land have  assisted  to  make  this  physical  characteristic 
much  less  conspicuous  among  them  than  among  other 
tribes  of  Tlinkits,  although  even  the  Ciiilkats  can  not  be 
called  a  race  of  large  men.  While  they  may  not  com- 
pare with  the  Sioux  or  Cheyennes,  or  a  few  others  that 
might  be  mentioned,  yet  there  are  scores  of  Indian  tribes 
in  the  United  States  proper  which  are  greatly  inferior  to 
the  Chilkats  both  in  mental,  physical,  and  moral  quali- 
ties.    In  warfare  they  are  as  brave  as  the  average  Indians 


mm^m. 


r^rr^rs! 


i 


r)  ( 


f^ 


III.  Mill 


53 


ALONG  ALASKA  S  GREAT  RIVER. 


ot  the  United  States,  and  have  managed  to  conduct  their 
own  affairs  with  considerable  order,  in  spite  of  govern- 
mental interference  at  times.  I  quote  from  a  correspon- 
dent writing  from  there  as  late  us  August,  1884,  to  the 
JVew  York  Times  of  I,'ovember  23d  :  "The  Indians  have 
a  great  respect  for  a  man-of-war,  with  its  strict  discipline 
and  busy  steam  launches  that  can  follow  their  canoes  to 
the  remote  creeks  and  hiding  places  in  the  islands,  and 
naval  rule  has  been  most  praiseworthy.  The  a?:my  djd 
no  good  for  the  country  or  the  natives,  and  its  record  i» 
not  a  creditable  one.  The  Tlinkits  sneered  openly  at  the 
land  forces,  and  snapped  their  fingers  at  challenging 
and  forbidding  sentries,  and  pa  iled  av;ay  at  their 
pleasure.' 


?> 


k 


./ 


4'. 


f^^        ' 


I 


CHAPTER  IV. 


OVER  THE  MOUNT AIX  PASS. 


^ 


^' 


Y  the  6th  cf  June  all  of  our 
nuiny  arrangements  for  depart- 
ure were  fully  completed,  and 
the  next  day  the  party  got 
under  way  shortly  before  10 
o'clock  in  the  forenoon.  Mr. 
Carl  Spuhn,  the  Manager  of 
the  North-west  Trading  Com- 
pany, which  owned  the  west- 
ern (lannery  in  the  Chilkat 
cinT,KAT  INDIAN  PACKER.  Inlet,  wiiere  my  party  had 
been  <lisembarked,  who  had  been  indefatigable  in  his 
efforts  to  assist  me  in  procuring  Indian  packers,  and  in 
many  other  ways  aiding  the  expedition,  now  placed  at 
my  disposal  the  little  steam  launch  of  the  company,  and 
behind  it,  tied  one  to  the  other  by  their  towing  ropes, 
was  a  long  i^tring  of  from  twelve  to  twenty  canoes,  each 
ccmtaining  from  two  to  four  Chilkat  Indians,  our  pros- 
pective packeis.  Some  of  the  Indians  who  had  selected 
their  packs  carried  them  in  the  i!anoes,  but  the  bulk  of 
the  material  was  on  the  decks  of  the  steam-launch 
"Louise."  They  disappeared  out  of  sight  in  a  little 
while,  sicaming  southward  down  the  Chilkat  Inlet, 
while  with  a  small  party  in  a  row-boat  I  crossed  thia 


'■'■'-""^ — 


mtamuM^lm.itmM 


■iM»«i»i  ■n, 


r'' 


54 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


channel  and  tlien  by  a  good  trail  walked  over  to  the 
Haines  Mission,  in  Chilkoot  Inlet,  presided  over  by  Mr. 
Eugene  S.  Willard  and  his  wife,  with  a  young  lady 
assistant.  Miss  Mathews,  and  maintained  by  tlie  Pres- 
byterian Board  of  Missions  as  a  station  among  the  Chil- 
kat  and  Chilkoot  Indians.  Crossing  the  ' '  mission  trail, ' ' 
as  it  was  called,  we  often  traversed  lanes  in  the  grass,  which 
here  was  fully  five  feet  high,  while,  in  whatever  direction 
the  eye  might  look,  wild  flowers  were  growing  in  the  gi-eat- 
est  profusion.  Dandelions  as  big  as  asters,  buttercups 
twi(!e  the  usual  size,  and  violets  rivaling  the  products 
of  cultivation  in  lower  latitudes  were  visible  around. 
It  produced  a  singular  and  striking  contrast  to  raise  the 
eyes  from  this  almost  tropical  luxuriance  and  allow 
them  to  rest  on  the  Alpine  hills,  covered,  half  way  down 
their  shaggy  sides,  with  snow  and  glacier  ice,  and  with 
cold  mist  condensed  on  their  crowns.  Mosquitoes  were 
too  plentiful  not  to  be  called  a  prominent  discomfort, 
and  small  gnats  did  much  to  mar  the  otherwise  pleasant 
stroll.  Berries  and  berry  blossoms  grew  in  a  profusion 
and  variety  which  I  luive  never  seen  equaled  within 
the  same  limits  in  lower  latitudes.  A  gigaTitic  nettle 
was  met  with  in  uncomfortal^le  profusion  when  one 
attempted  to  wander  from  the  beaten  trail.  This 
nettle  has  received  the  appropriate  name  of  "devil- 
sticks;"  and  Mr.  Spuhn  of  the  party  told  me  it  was 
formerly  used  by  the  Indian  medicine-men  as  a  prophy- 
lactic agfdnst  witcli  craft,  applied  externally,  and  with 
a  vigor  that  would  have  done  credit  to  the  days  of  old 
Salem,  a  custom  which  is  still  kept  up  among  these 
Indians.  Gardens  have  been  cultivated  upon  this  nar- 
row peninsula,  the  only  comparatively  level  track  of 


\ 


! 


f 


t 


\i« 


I 


•     • 


I 


•/ 


> 


B2 


Parti. 
Map  of  the 
Alanka  Exploring 
Expedition. 

of  1883. 

Compiled 

and  drawn  by 

Mr.  C.  A.  Homan, 

Topographical 

AriflBtant. 


t^caZ^. 


[urarufCitnc'i 


— •  M 


!EiRiivi,ac3asaEara3SiB 


i3^S« 


^^ 


I 


OVEM  THE  MOUNTAIN  PASS. 


67 


1 


considerable  size  in  all  south-eastern  Alaska,  with  a  suc- 
cess which  speaks  well  for  this  part  of  the  territory  as 
far  as  climate  and  soil  are  concerned,  although  the  ter- 
ribly lough  mountainous  character  of  nearly  all  of  this 
part  of  the  country  will  never  admit  of  any  broad  exper- 
iments in  agriculture.  By  strolling  leisurely  along  and 
stopping  long  enough  to  lunch  under  the  great  cedar 
trees,  while  the  mosquitoes  lunched  off  us,  we  arrived  at 
the  mission  on  Chilkoot  Inlet  just  in  time  to  see  the 
little  launch  in  the  distance  followed  by  its  long  proces- 
sion of  canoes,  heading  for  us  and  puffing  away  as  if  it 
were  towing  the  Great  Eastern.  It  had  gone  down  the 
Chilkat  Inlet  ten  or  twelve  miles  to  the  southward, 
turned  around  the  sharp  cape  of  the  peninsula.  Point 
Seduction,  and  traveled  back  northward,  parallel  to  its 
old  course,  some  twelve  to  fifteen  miles  to  where  we  were 
waiting  for  it,  having  steamed  about  twenty-live  miles, 
while  we  had  come  one-fifth  the  distance  to  the  same 
point.  Here  quite  a  number  of  Chilkoot  natives  and 
canoes  were  added  to  the  already  large  throng  ;  Mrs. 
Schwatka,  who  had  accompanied  me  thus  far,  was  left  in 
the  kind  care  of  the  missionary  family  of  Mr.  Willard  ; 
adieus  were  waved  and  we  once  more  took  cur  north- 
ward course  up  the  Chilkoot  Inlet. 

After  four  or  five  miles  the  main  inlet  bears  off  to  the 
westward,  but  a  much  narrower  one  still  points  con- 
stantly to  the  north  star,  and  ujj  the  latter  we  continued 
to  steam.  It  is  called  the  Dayay  Inlet  and  gives  us 
about  ten  miles  of  "  straight-away  course  "  before  coming 
to  the  mouth  of  the  river  of  the  same  name.  This  Dayay 
Inlet  is  of  the  same  general  character  as  the  inland  pas- 
sages in  this  part  of  Alaska,  of  which  I  have  already 


.  I  ■  1,1  JlipppiWlHipppipiHl 


•■ip" 


88 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


spoken ;  a  river-like  channel  between  high  steep  hills, 
which  are  covered  with  pine,  cedar  and  spruce  from  the 
water's  line  nearly  to  the  top,  and  there  capped  with 
bare  granite  crowns  that  in  gulches  and  on  the  summits 
are  covered  with  snow  and  glacier  ice,  which  in  melting 
furnish  water  for  innumerable  beautiful  cascades  and 
mountain  torrents,  man^v  of  them  dashing  from  such 
dizzy  precipitous  heights  that  they  are  reduced  to 
masses  of  iridescent  spray  by  the  time  they  reach  the 
deei)  green  waters  of  the  inlet. 

With  a  score  of  canoes  towing  behind,  the  ropes  near 
the  launch  kept  parting  so  often  that  we  were  consider- 
ably delayed,  and  as  the  Indians  were  seldom  in  any 
great  hurry  about  repairing  the  damages,  and  treated  it 
in  a  most  hilarious  manner  as  something  of  a  joke  on 
the  launch,  the  master  of  that  craft,  when  the  rope  had 
parted  near  the  central  canoe  for  about  the  twentieth 
time,  finally  bore  on  without  them,  leaving  the  delin- 
quents to  get  along  as  best  they  could,  there  being  about 
five  miles  more  to  make.  Fortunately  just  then  a  fair 
southern  breeze  sprang  up,  so  that  most  of  the  tardy 
canoes  soon  displayed  canvas,  and  those  that  could  not, 
hastily  improvised  a  blanket,  a  pea-jacket,  or  even  a 
a  broad-shouldered  pair  of  pantaloons,  to  aid  their  prog- 
ress, for  the  Indian  in  all  sections  of  the  country  is 
much  more  ingenious  than  one  is  apt  to  suppose,  espe- 
cially if  his  object  be  to  save  manual  labor.  The  mouth 
of  the  Dayay  river  being  reached  about  six  in  the  after- 
noon, it  was  found  to  consist  of  a  series  of  low  swampj 
mud  flats  and  a  very  miry  delta.  Here  it  is  necessary 
to  ascend  the  swift  river  at  least  a  mile  to  find  a  site 
that  is  even  half  suitable  for  a  camp.    During  the  time 


1. 


OVER  THE  MOUNTATN  PASS. 


6& 


when  the  greatest  sediment  is  brought  down  by  the  swift 
muddy  stream,  i.  e.,  during  the  spring  freshets  and  sum- 
mer high  water,  the  winds  are  usually  from  the  south, 
and  blow  with  considerable  force,  which  fact  accounts 
for  the  presence  of  soft  oozy  deposits  of  great  extent  so 
near  the  mouth  of  the  stream.  Through  this  shallow 
water  the  canoes  carried  our  effects.  The  river  once 
reached  the  canoes  proceeded  up  the  stream  to  camp,  the 
launch  whistled  us  adieu,  and  as  she  faded  from  sight, 
the  last  link  that  bound  us  to  civilization  was  snapped, 
and  our  explorations  commenced.  The  distance  from 
the  Haines'  Mission  to  the  mouth  of  the  Dayay  where  we 
disembarked  was  sixteen  miles.  ^ 

At  this  camp  No.  2,  we  found  a  small  camp  of  wander- 
ing Tahk-heesh  Indians,  or  as  they  are  locally  called  by 
the  few  whites  of  the  country,  the  Sticks,  a  peaceful 
tribe  whose  home  is  over  the  Alaskan  coast  range  of 
mountains  and  along  the  head- waters  of  the  great 
Yukon,  the  very  part  of  the  very  stream  we  desired  to 
explore.  It  has  only  been  within  the  last  few  years  that 
these  Tahk-heesh  Indians  have  been  allowed  to  cross 
over  the  mountains  into  the  Chilkat  country  for  purposes 
of  trade,  the  Chilkats  and  Chilkoots  united  hjiving  from 
time  immemorial  completely  monopolized  the  prolitable 
commerce  of  the  interior  fur  trade,  forbidding  ingress  to 
the  whites  and  denying  egress  to  the  Indians  of  the 
interior.  From  the  former  they  bought  their  trading 
goods  and  trinkets,  and  making  them  into  convenient 
bundles  or  parcels  of  about  one  hundred  pounds  each, 
they  carried  them  on  their  backs  across  the  snow  and 
glacier  crowned  mountains,  exchanging  them  for  furs 
with  the  tribes  of  the  interior  for  many  hundreds  of 


^LOm  ALASKA'S  OREAT  BIVEB. 
miles  around.    Thesp  f„r<. , 

and  carried  back  oZmJ:Z  T"  '"""^  *"  ^^^ 
fera  of  the  white  tnl.,  "  "^«,P«'"'«'«  Paths  to  the  oof- 
a  s.na„  taetio,;:,  ^  :"/»'""■"-;"  '"^^  -aliped  but 
large  in  eomp„Hson  w  h  tife  tri«  ""'  ''''  ''"^  "««> 
When  the  tmde  was  at  i  bl  f  '' "'""  '"  *'"*  ^""l^"- 
trips  were  often  made  twii  ™any  years  ago,  these 

.         -mmer,  and  so  g,^a  waTthe'"       ""^  *'"  '^™^  ""-^ 
that  no  less  than  from  e.>ht  t^!  ?""""  '"  ^^^^  lays, 
^o-nd  its  way  into  the  ttlrlr  I    "  "' "^'"«  ">'''-^' 
l-a»»es,  and  was  exchang^Ti  ?1  "'^  f  *'"*  ^'l""« 
a  eonseqnence,  the  ChiH      *        "'"""''''"*'»  f''''^-  As 
Mians  in  the'grelt  S    ^eT";:  ■'"'  ™^  ^''^''^  "' 
alone  is  worth  about  ten  orTwelve  th         1'  ''"*-^'*' 
blankets,  their  standard  of  llul  "'""''  dollars  in 

«on,  according  to  thelf  ene^'^-rt^'T '"  '"'^'■ 
ha,  th,^e  large  native  houf^  "t  t,  I  ^'"'*-"* 

Clxilkat  town,  two  of  which  arrflul  ^"""''  *'"*  ™ain 
from  two  to  four  dolla,:  '1:^' TheT  f  "'^*^  '^™'* 
were  now  plodding  alon.^  is  kmi^  ^  *'''<^''  we 

the  Chilkoot  trail  to  the^ilr.  "      ?""^  '"''"''''"'■^  as 
four  days,  packing  thet  "ot"  '  ;"^  "-^'"  ^'^^  *» 
headwaters  of  the  Yuko„re  ^Lhl;"  rr*'  ""*"  *« 
'"^d  solely  by  the  Chilkoots  «1  h  .         """'  """""Po- 
as  to  forbid  the  Chilkats Tl,!,'    *  k         *""'"  ^o""  »«  far 
"-"S  it,  so  that  thl  Ltlt  r     ^*'^' '"  •"-'1-  from 
and  far  more  laboril  tt  ;  "/°"1  *"  '^'^'> "  'o^ger 
l«d  them  up  the  Chilkat  R  v   ?    ~""' "'  ^^Chilkats 
long  mountain  traiUha  J^t  ^^ '''  ""''''  '^''^'^  » 
orte„  days,  packing  on  ^1?^    k"'™^  '"  "  ^""^l^ 
tributary  of  the  Yukon,  by  Hf    Tf'  ''"""  *"  » 
-gained.    On.onthisLrt:rnot;!.r^^ 


\ 


-     i*i»i"WJ*i^J»j;i^ 


OVER  THE  MOUNTAIN  PASS. 


61 


other  impediments  were  in  their  line  of  travel,  while  the 
Yukon,  with  its  shorter  trail,  had  many  such  obstacles. 
The  great  Hudson  Bay  Company  with  its  well-known 
indomitable  courage,  attempted  as  early  as  1850  to  tap 
this  rich  trading  district  monopolized  by  the  Chilkat 
Indians,  and  Fort  Selkirk  was  established  at  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Yukon  and  Pelly,  but  so  far  away  from  their 
main  base  of  supplies  on  Hudson's  Bay,  that  it  is  said  it 
took  them  a  couple  of  years  to  reach  it  with  trading 
effects.  The  Indians  knew  of  but  one  method  of  compe- 
tition in  business.  They  went  into  no  intricate  inventories 
for  reducing  prices  of  stock,  nor  did  they  put  bigger 
advertisements  or  superior  inducements  before  their  cus- 
tomers. They  simply  organized  a  war  party,  rapidly 
descended  the  main  Yukon  for  about  five  hundred  miles, 
burned  the  buildings  and  appropriated  the  goods. 

As  the  Tahk-heesh  or  Sticks  were  allowed  to  come  abroad 
so  the  white  men  were  allowed  and,  in  fact,  induced  to 
enter,  for  the  coast  Indians  found  ample  compensation  in 
carrying  the  white  men's  goods  over  the  trail  of  about 
thirty  miles  at  a  rate  which  brought  them  from  ten  to 
twelve  dollars  per  pack  of  a  hundred  pounds  in  weight ; 
and  it  was  my  intention  to  take  advantage  of  this  oppor- 
tunity to  reach  the  head  of  the  river,  and  then  iight  my 
way  down  it,  rather  than  against  its  well  known  rapid 
current,  of  which  I  had  heard  so  much  from  the  accounts 
of  explorers  on  its  lower  waters.  When  it  was  known, 
however,  that  I  expected  to  do  my  explorations  on  a  raft, 
the  idea  was  laugh  ed  at  by  the  few  white  men  of  the 
country,  as  evincing  the  extreme  of  ignorance,  and  the 
Indians  seemed  to  be  but  little  behind  them  in  ridicule 
of  the  plan..    The  latter  emphatically  affirmed  that  a 


"M 


-•* 


es 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  miles  of  lakes  stretched 
before  us,  and  what,  they  argued,  can  be  more  helpless 
than  a  raft  on  a  still  lake  1  Eight  or  ten  miles  of  boiling 
rapids  occurred  at  various  points  in  the  course  of  the 
stream,  and  these  would  tear  any  raft  into  a  shapeless 
wreck,  while  it  would  be  hard  to  find  Indians  to  portage 
my  numerous  effects  around  them.  The  unwieldiness  of 
a  great  raft} — no  small  one  would  serve  for  us  and  our 
stores — in  a  swift  current  was  constantly  pointed  out, 
and  I  must  confess  I  felt  a  little  discouraged  myself  when 
I  sunmied  up  all  these  reasons.  Why  this  or  the  Chilkat 
route  was  not  attempted  long  ago  by  some  explorer,  who 
might  thereby  have  traversed  the  entire  river  in  a  single 
summer,  instead  of  combating  its  swift  current  from  its 
mouth,  seems  singular  in  the  light  of  the  above  facts, 
and  I  imagine  the  only  explanation  is  that  men  who 
would  place  sufficient  reliance  in  Indian  reports  to  insert 
in  their  maps  the  gross  inaccuracies  that  we  after- 
ward detected,  would  rely  also  upon  the  Indian  reports 
that  from  time  immemorial  have  pronounced  this  pai't  of 
the  river  to  be  unnavigable  even  for  canoes,  except  for 
short  stretches,  and  as  filled  with  rapids,  cafions,  whirl- 
pools and  cascades. 

After  camping  that  night  on  the  Dayay,  bundles  were 
all  assorted  and  assigned.  The-4;tacks  varied  fi;ogi_thirty- 
sixjfcoa  hundred  and  thirty-seven  pounds  in  weigjit ,  the 
men  generally  carrying  a  hundred  pounds  and  the  boys 
according  to  their  age  and  strength.  The  "  Sticks  "  or 
Tahk-heesh  Indians  camped  near  us  were  hunting  black 
bear,  which  were  said  to  be  abundant  in  this  locality,  an 
assertion  which  seemed  to  be  verified  by  the  large  num- 
ber of  tracks  we  saw  in  the  valley.    From  this  band  of 


OVER  THE  MOUNTAIN  PASS. 


63 


Indians  we  completed  our  number  of  packei*8,  a  circum- 
stance which  irritated  the  others  greatly,  for  the  Chilkats 
seem  to  regard  the  Sticks  almost  in  the  light  of  slaves. 
Here  I  also  secured  a  stout,  sturdy  fellow,  at  half  rates, 
merely  to  go  along  in  case  of  sickness  among  my  numer- 
ous retinue,  in  which  event  he  would  be  put  on  full  wages. 
His  onerous  dutes  consisted  in  carrying  the  guidon,  or 
expedition  flag,  weighing  four  or  five  pounds,  and  he 
improvised  himself  into  a  ferry  for  the  white  men  at  the 
numerous  fords  which  the  tortuous  Dayay  River  pre- 
sented as  we  ascended.  As  every  one  gave  him  a  nickel 
or  dime  at  each  ford,  and  the  guidon  staff  was  simply  a 
most  convenient  alpenstock,  he  was  the  envy  of  all  the 
others  as  he  slowly  but  surely  amassed  his  gains  ;  not  so 
slowly  either,  for  the  river  made  so  many  windings  from 
one  side  of  its  high  walled  valley  to  the  other,  that  his 
receipts  rivaled  a  western  railroad  in  the  matter  of  mile- 
age, but  the  locomotion  was  scarcely  as  comfortable  as 
railroad  travel. 

During  the  still,  quiet  evening  we  could  hear  many 
grouse  hooting  in  the  spruce  woods  of  the  hillsides,  this 
time  of  day  seeming  to  be  their  favorite  hour  for  concerts. 
The  weather  on  this,  the  first  day  of  our  trip,  was  splen- 
did, with  a  light  southern  wind  that  went  down  with  the 
sun  and  gave  us  a  few  mist-like  sprinkles  of  rain,  serving 
to  cool  the  air  and  make  slumber  after  our  fatigue  doubly 
agreeable.  The  head  of  canoe  navigation  on  the  Dayay 
river,  where  it  terminates  abruptly  in  a  huge  boiling  cas- 
cade, is  ten  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  stream,  although 
fully  fifteen  are  traveled  by  the  canoemen  in  ascending 
its  tortuous  course,  which  is  accomplished  by  the  usual 
Indian  method  of  "  tracking,"  .with  ropes  and  poles  from 


M 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


tlie  bank  of  the  liver.  I  observed  tluit  tliey  "  tracked  " 
their  canoes  against  the  current  in  two  ways,  eacli  nietliod 
requiring  two  men  to  one  canoe.     Tlie  diagrams  given 

will  show  these  methods  ;  in  No.  1,  an 
Indian  jiulls  the  canoe  with  a  rope, 
while  a  comj)anion  just  in  his  rear  and 
following  in  his  stei)S  keeps  the  head 
of  the  canoe  in  the  stream,  with  a  long 
pole,  at  just  such  distance  as  he  may 
desire  according  to  the  obstacles  that 
are  presented.     If  the  water  from  the 
bank  for  some  distance  out,  say  twelve 
or  fifteen  feet,  is  clear  of  all  obstacles, 
his  companion  will  fall  to  the  rear  as 
far  as  his  pole  will  allow  and  assist  the 
ropeman  by  pushing  up  stream,  but 
in  shallow,  swift  places  he  has  all  he 
can  do  to  regulate  the  canoe's  course 
through    the   projecting  stones,    and 
the  burden  of  the  draft  falls  on  the 
ropeman.     In  the  other  mode  both  the 
men  use  poles  and  all  the  motive  power 
is  furnished  by  pushing.     The  advan- 
tage over  the  first  is  that  in  "  boiling  " 
water  full  of  stones,  the  bowman  may 
steer  his  end  clear  of  all  of  these,  only 
to  have  the  seething  waters  throw  the 
stern  against  a  sharp  corner  of  a  rock 
and  tear  a  hole  in  that  part,  an  accident  which  can  only 
be  avoided  by  placing  a  poleman  at  the  stern.     It  is 
readily  apparent,   however,  that  there  is  much  more 
power  expended  in  this  method  of  making  headway 


u 

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OVER  THE  MOUNTAIN  PASS. 


07 


1 


i 


against  the  cuiTent  than  in  the  other.  Some  few  of  the 
Indians  judiciously  vary  the  two  methods  to  suit  the  cir- 
cumstances. On  long  stretches  of  only  moderately  swift 
water  the  tired  trackers  would  take  turns  in  resting  in  the 
canoe,  using  a  paddle  to  hold  the  bow  out  from  the  shore. 
The  current  of  the  Dayay  is  very  swift,  and  two  days' 
"tracking  "is  often  required  to  traverse  the  navigable 
part  of  the  stream.  Every  few  hundred  yards  or  so  the 
river  needs  to  be  crossed,  wherever  the  timber  on  the 
banks  is  dense,  or  where  the  cir(uiitous  river  cuts  deep 
into  the  high  hillsides  that  form  the  boundaries  of  its 
narrow  valley.  In  these  crossings  from  fifty  to  a  hund- 
red vards  would  often  be  lost.  Tlie  Indians  seemed  to 
make  no  effort  whatever  to  stem  the  swift  current  in 
crossing,  but  pointed  the  canoe  straight  across  for  the 
other  bank  and  paddled  away  as  if  dear  life  depended 
o'l  the  result. 

The  march  of  the  8th  to  Camp  3,  brought  us  within  a 
half  mile  or  a  mile  of  the  head  of  canoe  navigation  on  the 
river,  and  here  the  Indians  desired  to  camp,  as  at  that 
particular  spot  there  is  no  dry  wood  witli  which  to  cook 
their  meals  ;  although  all  they  luid  to  cook  was  the  little 
flour  that  I  had  issued,  the  salmon  being  dried  and  eaten 
without  further  preparation.  The  Dayay  Valley  is  well 
wooded  in  its  bottom  with  poplar  and  several  varieties 
of  wiilow,  and  where  these  small  forests  did  not  exist 
were  endless  ridges  of  sand,  gravel  and  even  huge  bowl- 
ders cutting  across  each  other  at  all  angles,  evidently  tiie 
v»'ork  of  water,  assisted  Jit  times  by  tliL  more  powerful 
agency  of  moving  or  stranded  ice.  All  day  we  had  been 
i'rossing  beni  tracks  of  difl'erent  ages,  imd  after  cami)ing 
some  of  the  white  men  paddled  across  the  river  (here 


mmmm 


"^"w" 


98 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


II : 


^  ; 


f- 


I 


thirty-five  or  forty  yards  wide)  to  take  a  stroll  up  the 
valley  ;  and  while  returning  a  large  black  bear  was  seen 
perched  on  a  conspicuous  granite  ridge  of  the  western 
mountain  wall,  i)robably  four  hundred  yards  away  and  at 
an  angle  of  twenty  degrees  above  our  position  in  the  river 
bottom.  A  member  of  the  party  got  two  shots  at  him, 
but  he  disappeared  in  the  dense  underbrush,  evidently 
afraid  that  the  sportsman  might  aim  at  something  else 
and  so  hit  him.  Dr.  Wilson  and  Mr.  Homan  fished  with 
bait  and  flies  for  a  long  distance  up  and  down  the  difl:Vr- 
ent  channels  of  the  river,  but  could  not  get  a  single  ' '  rise  * ' 
or  "  bite,"  although  the  Indians  catch  mountain  trout  in 
their  peculiar  fish- weirs,  having  offered  us  that  very  day 
a  number  thus  captured.  Like  all  streams  rising  in 
glacier  bearing  lands  of  calcareous  structure,  its  waters 
are  verv  white  and  chalky,  which  may  account  for  the 
apparent  reluctance  of  the  fish  to  rise  to  a  fiy.  The 
pretty  waterfalls  on  the  sides  of  the  mountains  still  con- 
tinued and  the  glaciers  of  the  summits  became  more 
numerous  and  strongly  marked,  and  descended  m^arer  to 
tlie  bed  of  the  stream. 

I  could  not  but  observe  the  peculiar  manifestations  of 
surprise  characteristic  of  the  Chilkats.  Whenever  one 
uttered  a  shout  ovei*  some  trifie,  such  as  a  comrade's 
slipping  on  a  slimy  stone  into  the  water,  or  tumbling- 
over  the  root  of  a  log,  or  any  mishap,  comical  or  other- 
wise, every  one  within  hearing,  from  two  to  two  hundred, 
would  immediately  chime  in,  and  such  a  cry  wouid  ensue 
as  to  strike  us  with  astonishment.  This  nuiy  be  repeated 
several  times  in  a  minute,  and  the  abruptness  with  which 
it  would  begin  and  end,  so  that  not  a  single  distinct  voice 
can  be  heard  at  either  beginning  or  ending,  reminds  one 


vu 


\i  ,. 


i 

4 


OVER  THE  MOUNTAIN  PASS.  69 

somewhat  of  a  gang  of  coyotes  howling  around  a  frontier 
camj)  or  the  hayings  of  Indian  dogs  on  moonlight  sere- 
na(h-s,  from  which  one  would  be  strongly  tempted  to 
believe  they  had  borrowed  it.  Withal  they  are  a  most 
happy,  merry-hearted  and  jovial  race,  laughing  hilar- 
iously at  every  thing  with  the  least  shadow  of  comicality 
about  it,  and  "  guying"  every  trilling  misliai)  of  a  com- 
panion in  which  the  sufferer  is  exjiected  to  join,  just  as 
the  man  who  <'hases  his  hat  in  amuddy  street  on  a  windy 
dav  must  lauiih  with  the  ('rowd.  Such  characteristics  of 
good  nature  are  generally  supposed  to  be  accompanied 
by  a  geneious  disixxsition,  especially  as  toward  men  of 
the  same  blood,  but  I  was  compelled  to  notice  an  almost 
cruel  piece  of  selHshness  which  they  exhibited  in  one 
point,  and  which  told  strongly  against  any  such  theory 
as  api)lied  to  Indians,  oiat  least  this  i)arti(udar  band  of 
them.  AVhen  we  got  to  the  mouth  of  the  Dayay  river, 
many  of  the  pa(  kers  had  no  canoes  in  which  to  track 
their  bundh^s  or  packs  to  the  head  of  canoe  navigation, 
and  tlieii-  coinpanions  who  owned  such  craft  flatly  and 
decisively  refused  to  take  tlieir  packs,  although,  as  far  as 
I  could  see,  it  would  have  caused  them  no  inconvenience 
whatever.  In  many  cases  this  selfishness  was  the  effect 
of  caste,  to  whi(;h  I  have  ah'eady  alluded  and  whicli  with 
them  is  carried  to  an  extreme  hardly  ecpuded  in  the 
social  distinctions  of  any  ot]i«»r  savage  i)eoj)le.  Nor 
was  this  the  cmly  conspicuous  instance  of  selfishness  dis- 
l)layed.  As  I  have  already  said,  the  Dayay  is  very  tor- 
tuous, wide  and  swift,  and  thei-efore  has  very  few  fords, 
and  these  at  inconvenient  interv;ds  I'or  travelers  carry- 
ing  a  hundred  jwunds  apiece  on  their  backs,  yet  the 
slight  sei'vice  of  feriying  the  packers  and  their  packs 


mmmm'm 


I'l 


I 


I '" 


} 


70 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


across  the  stream  was  refused  by  the  canoemen  as  rigidly 
as  the  other  favor,  and  where  the  river  cut  deep  into 
some  high  projecting  bank  of  the  mountain  ilanks,  these 
unfortunate  packers  would  be  forced  to  carry  burdens 
up  over  some  precipitous  mountain  spur,  or  at  least  to 
make  a  long  detour  in  search  of  available  fords. 
My  readers  can  rest  assured  that  I  congratulated  myself 
on  having  taken  along  a  si)are  packer  in  the  event  of 
sickness  among  my  numerous  throng,  for  even  in  such  a 
case  I  found  them  as  disobliging  and  unaccommodating 
as  before,  utterly  refusing  to  touch  a  sick  man's  load 
until  he  had  promised  them  tlie  lion' s  share  of  his  wages 
and  I  had  ratified  the  contract. 

Every  afternoon  or  evening  after  getting  into  camp, 
no  matter  how  fatiguing  the  march  had  been,  as  soon  as 
their  simple  meal  was  cooked  and  consumed,  they  would 
gather  here  and  tliere  in  iittle  parties  for  the  purpose  of 
gambling,  and  oftentimes  their  orgies  would  run  far  into 
the  small  hours  of  the  niglit.  The  gambling  game  which 
they  called  la-?iell  was  the  favorite  during  the  trip  over 
the  Oliilkoot  trail,  although  T  understand  ^hat  they  have 
others  not  so  complicated.  This  game  requires  an  even 
number  of  players,  generally  from  four  to  twelve, 
divided  into  two  parties  which  face  each  other.  These 
"  teams ''  c(mtinue  sitting  about  two  or  three  feet  apart, 
with  their  legs  drawn  up  under  them,  d  la  Turque^  tlie 
place  selected  being  usually  in  sandy  ground  under 
the  shade  of  a  grove  of  poplar  or  willow  trees.  Each 
man  lays  a  wager  with  the  person  directly  oi)p()site  him, 
with  whom  alone  he  gambles  as  far  as  the  gain  or  loss  of 
his  stake  is  concerned,  although  such  loss  or  gain  is 
detennined  by  the  success  of  the  team  as  a  whole.     In 


OVER  THE  MOUNTAIN  PASS. 


71 


I 


other  words,  when  a  game  terminates  one  team  of  course 
is  the  winner,  but  each  player  wins  only  the  stake  put 
up  by  his  vis-a-vis.  A  handful  of  willow  sticks,  three 
or  four  inches  long,  and  from  a  dozen  to  a  score  in  num- 
ber, are  thrust  in  the  sand  or  soft  earth,  between  the  two 
rows  of  squatting  gamblers,  and  by  means  of  these  a  sort 
of  running  record  or  tally  of  the  game  is  kei)t.  The 
implements  actually  employed  in  gambling  are  merely  a 
couple  of  small  bone-bobbins,  as  shown  on  page  227,  of 
about  the  size  of  a  lady's  pen-knife,  one  of  which  has 
one  or  more  bands  of  black  cut  around  it  near  its  center 
and  is  called  the  king,  the  other  being  pure  white.  At 
the  commencement  of  the  game,  one  of  the  players  picks 
up  the  bone-bobbins,  changes  them  rapidly  from  one 
hand  to  the  other,  sometimes  behind  his  back,  then 
again  under  an  apron  or  hat  resting  on  his  lap,  during 
all  of  which  time  the  whole  assembly  are  singing  in  a 
low  measured  melody  the  words,  "Oh!  oh!  oh!  Oh, 
ker-shoo,  ke:-shoo  I — "  which  is  kept  up  with  their 
elbows  flapping  against  their  sides  and  their  heads 
swaying  to  the  tune,  until  some  player  of  the  opposite 
row,  thinking  he  is  inspired,  and  singing  with  unusual 
vehemence,  suddenly  points  out  the  hand  of  the  Juggler 
that,  in  his  belief,  contains  "the king."  If  his  guess  is 
correct,  his  team  picks  up  one  of  the  willow  sticks  and 
places  it  on  their  side,  or,  if  the  juggler's  team  has  gained, 
any  one  of  their  sticks  must  be  replaced  in  the  reserve 
at  the  center.  If  he  is  wrong  then,  the  other  side  tallies 
one  in  the  same  Avay.  The  bone  "  king  and  queen  "  are 
then  handed  to  an  Indian  in  the  otliHr  row,  and  the  same 
performance  repeated,  although  it  may  be  twice  as  long, 
or  half  as  short,  as  no  native  attempts  to  discern  the 


^^^bS 


«//-' 


sate: 


MHM 


iSMi 


72 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER 


•   I 


11 


f!  1 


V  ! 


whereabouts  of  the  "king"  until  lief'.;els  he  has  a  revel- 
ation to  tliat  effect,  proiluced  by  the  incantation.  A 
game  will  last  any  where  from  half  an  hour  to  tlir'^e  hours. 
Whenever  the  game  is  nearly  concluded  and  one  party 
has  gained  almost  all  the  villow  sticks,  or  at  tiny  other 
exciting  i)oint  of  the  game,  they  have  methods  of 
"  doubling  up  "  on  the  wagers,  by  not  exchanging  the 
bobbins  but  holding  both  in  one  hand  or  leaving  one  or 
both  on  the  grountl  under  a  hat  or  ai)ron,  and  the 
guesses  are  about  both  and  count  double,  treble  or 
quadruple,  for  loss  or  gain.  They  wager  the  caps  off  their 
heads,  their  shirts  off  their  backs,  and  with  many  of  them 
no  doubt,  their  i)rospeotive  pay  for  the  \v\\>  was  all  gone 
before  it  was  half  earned.  Men  and  boys  alike  entered 
the  contest,  and  from  half  a  dozen  i)laces  at  once,  in  the 
woods  near  by,  could  be  heard  the  everlasting  refrain, 
the  never-ceasing  chant  of  "Oh !  oh  !  oh  !  Oh  !  ker-shoo, 
ker-shoo !  "  They  used  also  to  improvise  hats  of  birch- 
bark  (wherever  that  tree  grew  near  llie  evening  camp) 
with  pictures  upon  them  that  would  j)rohibit  their  pass- 
ing through  the  mails.  These  habits  do  not  indicate 
any  great  moral  improvement  thus  far  j)roduced  l)y  con- 
tact with  civilization. 

"^  Two  miles  and  a  half  beyond  the  head  of  canoe  navi- 
gatitm,  the  Kut-lah-co<tJc-ah  River  of  the  Chilkats  comes 
in  from  the  west.  This  is  really  largei-  in  volume  and 
width  than  tlie  Dayay,  the  two  averaging  respectively 
fifty  and  forty  yards  in  width  by  estinuition.  I  short- 
ened its  name,  and  called  it  after  Professor  Nourse  of 
the  linited  States  Naval  Observatoiy.  Large  glaciers 
feed  its  sources  by  numerous  waterfalls,  and  its  canon- 
like  bed  is  very  pictures(pie.     Like  all  such  streams  its 


'Zji 


6ro  a 


?5     > 


«  _5- 


03^      t^ 


O  i  ^5      o 


t=  — - 


E    '^ 


-2  =■    '^ 


J--3  ce 


O  B  O        — 


c  f  a 

c  ?o 

So"* 


OVER  THE  MOUNTAIN  PASS. 


76 


waters  were  conspicuously  white  and  milk-like,  and  the 
most  diligent  fisherman  was  unrewarded.  At  the  head 
of  the  Nourse  River  the  Indians  say  there  is  a  very  large 
lake.  The  mountains  that  bound  its  course  on  the  west  are 
capped  by  an  immense  glacier,  which  might  be  traced 
along  their  summits  for  probably  ten  or  twelve  miles,  and 
was  then  lost  in  the  lowering  clouds  of  their  icy  crests. 
These  light  fogs  are  frequent  on  warm  days,  when  the 
difference  of  temperature  at  the  upper  and  lower  levels 
is  more  marked,  but  they  disappear  at  night  as  the  tem- 
peratures approach  each  other.  This  glacier,  a  glimpse 
of  which  is  given  on  page  73,  was  named  after  Professor 
Baird,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute  at  Washington. 
The  march  of  the  9th  of  June  took  us  three  miles  and  a 
half  up  the  Dayay  River,  and  while  resting,  about  noon, 
I  was  astonished  to  hear  the  Indians  declare  this  was 
their  expected  camp  for  the  night,  for  we  had  really 
accomplished  so  little.  I  was  much  inclined  to  anticii)ate 
that  the  rest  of  the  journey  was  not  much  worse,  and 
would  give  a  forcible  example  of  the  maxim  that 
''dangers  disappear  as  they  are  approached."  The 
rough  manner  in  which  my  illusions  were  dispelled  will 
appear  further  on.  Another  inducement  to  stop  at  this 
particular  point  was  found  in  a  small  grove  of  spruce 
saplings  just  across  the  river,  which  was  so  dense  that 
each  tree  trunk  tapered  as  regularly  as  if  it  had  been 
turned  from  a  lathe.  These  they  desired  for  salmon- 
spears,  cutting  them  on  their  way  over  the  trail,  and  col- 
lecting them  as  they  returned,  so  as  to  give  the  poles  a 
few  days  to  season,  thus  rendering  them  lighter  for  the 
dextrous  work  required.  These  peculiar  kinds  of  fish- 
spears  are  so  common  over  all  the  districts  of  Arctic  and 


78 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  ItlVEli. 


sub-Arcti(!  America  that  I  tliink  them  worthy  of  (h'sorip- 
tion.  The  pole  is  from  eight  to  twelve  feet  ill  length, 
extending  from  P  to  P,  as  shown  in  the  figure  on 
this  page.     Two  arms  A  A  are  made  of  elastic^  wood,  and 

at  their  ends  they  carry  in- 
curved spikes  of  iron  or  steel, 
S  S,  which  act  as  barbs  on  a 
fish-hook.  Another  sharpened 
spike  proje(5ts  from  the  tip  of 
the  i)ole  P,  and  the  three  to- 
gether make  the  prongs  of  the 
spear  or  gig.  When  the  fish  is 
speared  the  arms  A  A  bend  out 
as  the  spikes  "ride"  over  its 
back,  and  these  insert  them- 
selves in  its  sides,  tlie  pole  spike 
penetrating  its  back.  In  the 
figure  there  is  represented  the 
cross-section  of  a  fish  (its  dorsal- 
fin  D)  just  before  the  spear 
strikes.  Vmong  the  Eskimo  of 
King  William's  Land  I  found 
the  spear  -  handles  made  of 
driftwood  thrown  on  the  beach, 
the  arms  A  A  made  of  very 
elastic  nmsk-ox  horn,  and  the 
spikes  of  copper  taken  from  the 
abandoned  ships  of  Sir  John  Franklin's  ill-fated  ex- 
pedition. Again  at  this  camp  (No.  4),  the  fishing-tackle 
of  various  kinds  was  employed  vigilantly,  but  although 
the  water  seemed  much  clearer  there  were  no  results,  the 
doctor   advancing  the  theory  that  trout  will  not  rise 


I 


i 


n 

v.  > 
a 

I  < 

s  s 

O  ' 

2.  '■^^ 


y.  > 


c 
c 

-^ 

D 

> 

p. 

^ 

f 

?1 

B 

:<) 

o 

c 

B 

E 

•r 

5 

?S 

V* 

o 

r* 

v 

s 

-^ 

3 

c 

r* 

> 

?. 

"^ 

a 

"' 

u; 

-^ 

o 

c 

^,_,- 

< 

re 

§. 

< 

5^ 

l-h 

<(S 

I 


t 


OVEJi  THE  MOUNTAIN  PASS. 


79 


to  SI  fly  ill  stivaiiiH  where  huIiiiou  are  si)awning,  as  they 
then  live  on  the  Hiilinon  roe  to  the  exclusion  of  every 
thing  else. 

At  this  camp  I  saw  the  Chilkat  boy  i)ackers  wrestling 
in  a  very  singular  niannei',  different  from  any  thing  in 
that  branch  of  athletics  with  which  I  am  acquainted. 
The  two  wrestlers  lie  flat  on  their  backs  upon  the  ground 
or  sand  and  against  each  other,  but  head  to  foot,  or  in 
opposite  directions.  Their  inner  legs,  /.  e. ,  those  touching 
their  ojipouents,  are  raised  high  in  the  air,  carried  i>ast 
each  other,  and  then  locked  together  at  the  knee.  They 
then  rise  to  a  sitting  posture,  or  as  nearly  as  possible, 
and  with  their  nearest  arms  locked  into  a  firm  hold  .it 
the  elbows,  the  contest  (Commences.  It  evidently  requires 
no  mean  amount  of  strength  to  get  on  top  of  an  ecp-al 
adversary,  and  the  game  seems  to  demand  considerable 
agility,  although  the  efforts  of  the  contestants,  as  they 
rolled  around  like  two  angle  worms  tied  together,  ap- 
peared more  awkward  than  graceful. 

Northward  from  this  camp  (No.  4),  lying  between  the 
Nourse  and  Dayay  Rivers,  was  the  southern  terminal 
spur  of  a  large  glacier,  whose  upper  end  was  lost  in  the 
cold  drifting  fog  that  clung  to  it,  and  which  can  be  seen 
on  page  77.  I  called  it  the  Saussure  Glacier,  after 
Professor  Henri  de  Saussure,  of  Geneva,  Switzerland. 
The  travels  in  the  Dayay  Inlet  and  up  the  valley  of  the 
river  had  been  reasonably  pleasant,  but  on  the  lOth  of 
June  our  course  lay  over  the  rough  moui  jain  spurs  of 
the  east  side  for  ten  or  twelve  miles,  upon  a  trail  fully 
equal  to  forty  or  fifty  miles  over  a  good  road  for  a  day's 
walking.  Short  as  the  march  was  in  actual  measurement, 
it  consumed  from  7:30  in  the  morning  until  7:15  in  the 


.  < (Ummmtmitm 


80 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


evening  ;  nearly  half  the  time,  however,  being  occupied 
in  resting  from  the  extreme  fatigUv-  of  tiie  journey.  In 
fact,  ill  many  places  it  was  a  terrible  scraml)le  uj)  and 
do.vn  liill,  over  huge  trunks  and  bristling  limbs  of  fallen 
timber  too  far  apart  to  leap  from  one  to  the  other,  while 
between  was  a  boggy  swamp  that  did  not  increase  the 
l)leasiire  of  carrying  a  hundred  pounds  on  one's  back, 
Sometimes  we  would  sii-k  in  almost  to  our  knees,  while 
every  now  and  then  this  agony  was  suijphMuented  by  the 
recurrences  of  long  high  ridgey  of  rough  bowldei's  of 
trachyte  with  a  splintery  fracture.  The  latter  felt  like 
hot  iron  undei"  the  wet  moccasins  after  walking  on  them 
and  jumping  from  one  to  the  other  for  awhile.  Some  of 
these  great  ridges  of  bowlders  on  the  steep  hillsides  must 
have  been  of  quite  recent  origin,  and  from  the  size  of  the 

big  rocks,  often 
ten  or  twelve 
feet  in  diameter, 
I  infer  that  ''he 
force  employed 
_^  must   have  been 

POSITION    OK   THE    FEET   IN  WALKING  A  LOG,      eUOmiOUS,    aud    I 
AS  PRACTICED  BY  THE  (./ILKAT  INDIANS.  ^^^^^^       ^^j^       ^^ 

count  for  it  on  the  ti^eory  that  ice  had  been  an  im- 
])ortant  agent  in  the  result.  So  recent  were  some  of 
the  riilgds  that  trees  thirty  and  forty  feet  high  were 
embedded  in  the  debris,  and  where  they  were  not 
cut  off  and  crushed  by  the  action  of  the  rocks  they  weie 
growing  aa  if  nothing  had  hapi>ened,  although  half  the 
length  of  their  trunks  in  some  cases  was  below  the  tops 
of  die  ridges.  I  hardly  thought  that  any  of  the  trees 
could  be  ever  forty  or  fifty  years  old.     Where  these 


r 


% 


OVER  THE  MOUNTAIN  PASS. 


81 


ridges  of  great  bowlders  were  very  wide  one  would  be 
obliged  to  follow  close  behind  some  Indian  i)aeker 
aeciuainted  with  the  trail,  which  might  easily  be  lost 
before  re-entering  the  brush. 

Til  at  day  I  noticed  that  all  my  Indians,  in  crossing 
logs  over  a  stream,  always  turned  the  toes  of  both  feet  in 
the  same  direction  (to  the  right),  although  they  kept  the 
body  square  to  the  front,  or  nearly  so,  and  each  foot  passed 
the  otlier  at  every  step,  as  in  ordinary  walking.  The 
advantage  to  be  gained  was  not  obvious  to  the  author; 
as  the  novice,  in  attempting  it,  feels  much  more  unsafe 
than  in  walking  over  the  log  as  usual.  Nearing  Camj) 
/),  we  passed  over  two  or  three  hundred  yards  of  snow 
from  tliree  to  fifteen  feet  deep.  This  day' s  march  of  the 
I'^tli  of  June  brought  us  to  the  head  of  the  Dayay  i"ver 
at  a  place  the  Indians  call  the  "stone-houses."  These 
stone-7iouses,  however,  are  only  a  loose  mass  of  huge 
bowlders  piled  over  each  other,  projecting  high  above 
tlie  dee])  snow,  and  into  the  cave-like  crevices  the 
natives  crawl  for  protection  whenever  the  snow  has 
buried  all  other  tracts,  or  the  cold  wind  from  the  gla- 
ciers is  too  severe  to  permit  of  sleep  in  the  open.  All 
around  us  was  snow  or  the  clear  blue  ice  of  the  glacier 
fronts,  while  dire<!t]y  northward,  and  seemingly  impas- 
sable, there  loomed  up  for  nearly  four  tl^ousand  feet  the 
precipitous  pass  through  the  mountains,  a  blank  mass 
of  steep  white,  which  we  were  to  essay  on  the  morrow. 

Shortly  after  camping  T  was  told  that  the  Indians  had 
seen  a  mountain  goat  nearly  on  the  summit  of  the  westei-n 
mountain  wall,  and  I  was  able  to  make  out  his  presence 
with  the  aid  of  field-glasses.  The  Indians  had  detected 
him  with  their  unaided  eyes,  in  spite  of  his  white  coat 


82 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


being  against  a  background  of  snow.  Mh/1  the  goat 
been  on  the  summit  of  a  mountain  in  the  nv»'>f*  I  should 
not  have  regarded  him  as  any  safer  tlian  wh*-rp  he  wa», 
if  the  Indians -were  even  lull f  as  fati<ruef!  as  J  felt,  and 


I    I 


rUASING    A    MOUNTAIX   GOAT    IN   TUK    rKIUIIKR   PASS. 


they  had  carried  a  hundred  pounds  over  the  tiail  and  I 
luid  not.  But  the  identity  of  the  goat  was  not  fully 
established  before  an  Indian,  the  only  one  who  carried  a 
gun,  an  old  Hint-lock,  smooth  bore,  Hudson  Bay  mus- 
ket, made  preparations  for  the  chase.  He  ran  across  the 
valley  and  soon  commenced  the  ascent  <if  the  mount- 


OVER  THE  MOUNTAIN  PASS. 


83 


ains,  in  a  little  while  almost  disaj)pt;aring  on  the  white 
sides,  looking  like  a  tiy  crawling  over  the  front  of  a 
house.  The  Indian,  a  "Stick,''  iinally  could  be  seen 
above  the  mountain  goat  and  would  have  secured  liim, 
but  tliat  a  little  black  cur  dog  which  had  started  to  fol- 
low him  wlien  he  was  almost  at  the  summit,  made  its 
appearance  on  the  scene  just  in  time  to  frighten  the  ani- 
mal and  started  him  running  down  the  mountain  side 
toward  the  pass,  thi  "Stick"  closely  following  in  jmr- 
suit,  assisted  by  the  dog.  Just  as  every  one  expected 
to  see  the  goat  disappear  through  the  pass,  he  wheeled 
directly  around  and  started  straight  for  the  camp,  i)ro- 
ducing  great  excitement.  E^ery  one  grabbed  the  first 
gun  he  could  get  his  hands  on  and  waited  for  the  ani- 
mal's approach.  A  shot  from  camp  sent  him  flying  up 
the  eastern  mtmntains,  whi(!h  were  higher  than  those  of 
the  west,  closely  followed  almost  to  the  summit  by  the 
indefatigable  "  Stick,"  who  Anally  lost  him.  I  thought 
it  sliowed  excellent  endurance  for  the  mountain  goat, 
but  the  Indian's  pluck  was  beyond  all  praise,  and  as  he 
retained  with  a  jovial  shake  of  the  head,  as  if  he  met 
such  disappointments  every  day,  I  felt  sure  that  I  would 
not  have  undertaken  his  hunt  foi'  all  the  goat  meat  in 
the  country,  even  with  starvation  at  hand. 

On  Ihe  morning  of  the  next  day  about  five  o'clock,  we 
commenced  the  toilsome  ascent  of  this  coast  range  i)ass, 
called  by  the  Indians  Kotusk  Mountains,  and  by  seven 
o'clock  all  my  long  })ack  tiain  was  strung  up  the  precip- 
itous ])ass,  making  one  oC  Ihe  ])rettiest  Alpine  sights 
that  I  have  ever  witnessed,  and  as  seen  from  a  distance 
strangely  resembling  a  row  of  bowlders  pi'ojecting  from 
the  snow.     Up  banks  almost  i)erpendicular  they  scram- 


i  , 


84 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


bled  on  their  liauds  and  Rikh's,  lielping  themselves  by 
every  projecting  rock  and  clump  of  juniper  and  dwarf 
spruce,  not  even  refusing  to  use  their  teeth  on  them  at 
the  worst  places.  Along  the  steep  snow  banks  and  the 
icy  fronts  of  glaciers  steps  were  cut  with  knives,  while 
rough  alpenstocks  from  the  valley  helped  them  to 
maintain  tlnnr  footing.  In  some  such  i)laces  the  incline 
was  so  steep  that  those  having  boxes  on  their  backs  cut 
scratches  in  the  icy  crust  with  the  corners  as  they  passed 
along,  and  oftentimes  it  was  possible  to  steady  one's  self 
by  the  open  pahu  of  the  hand  resting  against  the  snow. 
In  some  of  these  places  a  single  mis-step,  or  the  caving 
in  of  a  foot-hold  would  have  sent  the  unfortunate  trav- 
eler many  hundred  feet  headlong  to  certain  destruc- 
tion. Yet  not  the  slightest  accident  happened,  and 
about  ten  o'clock,  almost  exhausted,  we  stood  on  the 
top  of  the  pass,  enveloped  in  a  cold  drifting  fog,  4,240 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea  (a  small  portion  of  the 
party  having  found  a  lower  crossing  at  4,100  feet  above 
sea-level).  How  these  small  Indians,  not  apparently 
averaging  over  one  hundred  and  forty  pounds  in  weight, 
could  carry  one  hundred  pounds  up  such  a  preci]iit<)us 
mountain  of  ice  and  snow,  seems  mnrvelous  beyond 
measure.  One  man  carried  one  hundred  an<l  thiity- 
seven  pounds,  while  I  toys  from  twelve  to  fourteen  cni- 
ried  from  fifty  to  seventy  pounds.  T  called  ilils  the 
Perrier  Pass  after  Colonel  ,J.  Perrier  of  the  Fiench  (reo- 
graphical  Society. 

Once  on  top  of  the  Pass  the  trail  leads  north wanl  and 
the  descent  is  very  rapid  for  a  few  hundivtl  yards  to  a, 
lake  of  about  a  hundred  acres  in  extent,  whicli  was  yet 
frozen  ovei'  and  the    ice  covered    uith   snow,  although 


( 


o 


w 


/^ 


M 


(, 


OVER  THE  MOUNTAIN  PASS. 


87 


drainage  from  the  slopes  had  made  tlie  snow  very  slushy. 
Over  tlie  level  trai^ks  of  snow  many  of  the  Indians  wore 
their  snow-shoes,  which  in  the  ascent  and  steep  descent 
had  been  lashed  to  their  packs.  These  Indians  have  two 
kinds  of  snow-shoes,  a  very  broud  pair  used  while  pack- 
ing, as  with  my  party,  and  a  narrower  and  neater  kind 
employed  while  hunting.  The  two  kinds  are  figured 
below.  This  small  lake,  abruptly  walled  in,  greatly 
resembled  an  extinct  crater,  and  such  it  may  well  have 
been.  From  this  re- 
semblan(;e  it  received 
its  name  of  Crater 
Lake,  a  view  of  which 
figures  as  tlie  frontis- 
l)iece.  Here  there  was 
no  timber,  not  even 
brush,  to  be  seen ; 
while  the  gullies  of  the 
granite  hills,  and  the 
valleys  deeply  covered 
with  snow,  gave  the 
whole  scene  a  decid- 
edly Arctic  appear- 
ance. I  noticed  thnt 
my  Tndinn  packers, 
in  folh)wing  a  trail  on  snow,  whether  it  was  up  hill,  on 
a  level,  or  even  a  sliglit  descent,  always  stepped  in  each 
otlier's  tracks,  and  hence  our  large  i)arty  made  a  trail 
that  at  first  glance  looked  as  if  only  five  or  six  had  passed 
over  ;  but  when  going  down  a  steep  descent,  especially  on 
soft  snow,  each  one  niiide  his  own  trail,  and  they  scat- 
tered out  over  many  yards  in  width.     I  could  not  but  be 


CniLKAT  HUNTING  AND  PACKING  SNOW- 
SHOES. 

The  usual  thongn  are  used  to  fanten  them  to  the 
feet.,  but  are  notxliowii  in  the  illu)<tration. 


I 

I; 


w 


8i 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


impressed  with  the  idea  that  this  was  worth  considering 
should  it  ever  be  necessary  to  estimate  their  numbers. 
From  the  little  (!rater-like  lake  at  the  very  head  of  the 
Yukon,  the  trail  leads  through  a  valley  that  converges  to 
a  gorge  ;  and  while  crossing  the  snow  in  this  ravine  we 
could  hear  the  running  water  gurgling  under  the  snow 
bridge  on  which  we  were  walking.  Further  down  the  lit- 
tle valley,  as  it  opened  at  a  point  where  these  snow- 
arches  were  too  wide  to  support  their  weight,  they  had 
tumbled  into  the  stream,  showing  in  many  places  abut- 
ments of  deep  perpendicular  snow-banks  often  twenty  to 
twenty-five  feet  in  height.  Where  the  river  banks  were 
of  stone  and  perpendicular  the  i)ackers  were  forced  to 
pass  over  the  projecting  abutments  of  snow,  undermined 
by  the  swift  stream.  It  was  hazardous  for  many  to 
attempt  ihe  passage  over  the  frail  structure  at  the  same 
time.  Passing  by  a  few  small  picturesque  lakes  on  our 
left,  some  still  containing  floating  cakes  of  ice,  we  caught 
sight  of  the  main  lake  in  the  afternoon,  and  in  a  few 
hours  were  upon  its  banks  at  a  point  where  a  beautiful 
mountain  stream  came  tumbling  in,  with  enough  swift 
water  to  necessitate  crossing  on  a  log.  Near  the  Crater 
Lake  a  curlew  and  a  swallow  were  seen,  and  a  small  black 
bear  cub  was  the  only  other  living  thing  visible, 
although  mountain  goats  were  abundant  a  short  distance 
back  in  the  high  hills.  We  had  gotten  into  camp  quite 
late  in  the  evening  and  here  the  contracts  with  our  Indian 
packers  expired. 

Imagine  my  surprise,  after  a  fatigiung  march  of  thir- 
teen miles  that  had  required  fourteen  hours  to  accom- 
plish, and  was  fully  equal  to  forty  or  fifty  on  any  good 
road,  at  having  the  majority  of  my  packers,  men    and 


g 

i. 
G 
O 

e 

V 


OVER  THE  MOUNTAIN  PASS.  8» 

boys,  demand  juiynifnt  at  onee  with  the  view  of  an 
immediate  return.  Some  of  them  assuied  me  they  would 
make  the  mouth  of  the  Dayay  before  stopping,  and  would 
then  only  stay  for  a  short  rest.  It  should  be  remembered 
that  we  were  so  far  north  Jind  the  sun  so  near  his  north- 
ern solstice  that  it  was  light  enough  even  at  midnight, 
for  traveling  purposes,  especially  on  the  white  snow  of 
the  worst  portion  of  the  journey,  Perrier  Pass.  I  had 
no  reason  to  doubt  their  assurances,  and  afterward 
learned  that  one  of  them  went  through  to  the  mission 
without  stopping,  in  spite  of  n  fiirious  gale  which  was 
raging  on  the  Dayay  and  (Jliilkoot  Inlets. 


I 


I 


<J0 


CHAPTER  V. 


ALONO  THE  LAKES. 


% 


IN   A   8TOKM   ON   TIIK   LAKKS. 


large  lake  near  the  head 
of  the  Yukon  I  named  in 
honor  of  Dr.  Lindeman, 
of  the  Bremen  Geograi)hi- 
cal  Society.  The  country 
thus  far,  including  the 
lake,  had  already  received  a  most  thorough  exploration  at 
the  hands  of  Dr.  Aurel  Krause  and  Dr.  Arthur  Krause, 
two  German  scientists,  heretofore  sent  out  by  the  above 
named  society,  but  I  was  not  aware  of  the  fact  at  that 
time.  Looking  out  upon  Lake  Lindeman  a  most  beauti- 
ful Alpine-like  sheet  of  water  was  presented  to  our  view. 
The  scene  was  made  more  picturesque  by  the  mountain 
creek,  of  which  I  have  spoken,  and  over  which  a  green 
willow  tree  was  supposed  to  do  duty  as  a  foot-log.  My 
first  attempt  to  pass  over  this  tree  caused  it  to  sink  down 
into  the  rushing  waters  and  was  much  more  interesting 
to  the  spectators  than  to  me.  Lake  Lindeman  is  about 
ten  miles  long,  and  from  one  to  one  and  a-half  wide,  and 
in  appearance  is  not  unlike  a  portion  of  one  of  the  broad 
inland  passages  of  south-eastern  Alaska  already 
described.  Fish  were  absent  from  these  glacier-fed 
streams  and  lakes,  or  at  least  they  were  not  to  be  enticed 
by  any  of  the  standard  allurements  of  the  fishermen's 


'  m 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


91 


wiles,  but  we  managed  to  kill  a  few  dusky  grouse  and 
green-winged  teal  durks  to  vary  the  u.sual  government 
ration;  though  all  were  tough  beyond  measure,  it  being 
so  near  their  breeding  season. 

Over  the  lake,  on  quiet  days,  were  seen  many  gulls, 
and  the  giaceful  little  Aretic  tern,  which  I  recognized  as 
an  old  companion  on  the  Atlantic  side.  A  ramble  among 
the  woods  next  day  to  search  for  raft  timber  revealed  a 
number  of  bear,  caribou  and  other  game  tracks,  but 
nothing  could  be  seen  of  their  authors.  A  small  tlock 
of  pretty  harlequin  ducks  gave  us  a  long  but  unsuccess- 
ful shot.  The  lakes  of  the  interior,  ol'  which  there  were 
many,  bordered  by  swampy  tracts,  supplied  Koth,  our 
cook,  with  a  couple  of  green-winged  teal,  duck  and  drake, 
as  the  reward  of  a  late  evening  stroll,  for,  as  I  have  said, 
it  was  light  enough  at  midnight  to  allow  us  to  shoot,  at 
any  rate  with  a  shot-gun. 

While  the  lakes  were  in  many  places  bordered  with 
swampy  tracts,  the  land  away  from  them  was  quite  pas- 
sable for  walking,  the  great  obstacle  being  the  large 
amount  of  fallen  timber  that  covered  the  ground  in  all 
directions.  The  area  of  bog,  ubiquitous  beyond  the 
Kotusk  range,  was  now  confined  to  the  shores  of  the  lakes 
and  to  streams  emerging  from  or  emptying  into  them, 
and  while  these  were  numerous  enough  to  a  person  desir- 
ing to  hold  a  straight  course  for  a  considerable  distance, 
the  walking  was  bearable  compared  with  previous  experi- 
ence. 

Two  of  the  Tahk-heesk  or  "  Stick"  Indians,  who  had 
come  Vv  2  i  h  us  as  packers,  had  stored  away  in  this  vicinity 
undei  the  villows  of  the  lake's  beach,  a  couple  of  the 
most  dilapidated  looking  craft  that  ever  were  seen.     To 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-S) 


o. 


V 


%" 


1.0 


1.25 


I.I   I.'-  II- 


1.4 


1.6 


V] 


>" 


.^ 


.'^' 


/: 


V 


/A 


Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


13  WIST  MAIN  STRUT 

WHSTIR.N.Y.  14SaO 

(716)  872-4503 


92 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


call  them  canoes,  indeed,  was  a  strain  upon  our  con- 
sciences. The  only  theory  to  account  for  their  keeping 
afloat  at  all  was  that  of  the  Irishman  in  the  story,  "  that 
for  ev^ery  hole  where  the  water  could  come  in  there  were 
a  half  a  dozen  where  it  could  run  out."  These  canoes  are 
made  of  a  species  of  poi)lar,  and  are  generally  called 
"  Cottonwood  canoes ; "  and  as  the  trees  from  which  they 
are  made  are  not  very  large,  the  material  "  runs  out"  so 
to  apeak,  along  the  waist  or  middle  of  the  canoe,  where  a 
greater  quantity  is  required  to  reach  around,  and  this 
deficiency  is  made  up  by  substituting  batten-like  strips  of 
thin  wood  tacked  or  sewed  on  as  gunwales,  and  calking 
the  crevices  well  with  gum.  At  bow  and  stern  some  rude 
attempt  is  made  to  warp  them  into  canoe  lines,  and  in 
doing  this  many  cracks  are  developed,  all  of  which  are 
smeared  with  spruce  gum.  The  thin  bottom  is  a  perfect 
gridiron  of  slits,  all  closed  with  gum,  and  the  proportion 
of  gum  increases  with  the  canoe's  age.  These  were  the 
fragile  craft  that  were  brought  to  me  with  a  tender  to 
transport  my  effects  (nearly  three  tons  besides  thejo^r- 
sonnel  of  the  expedition)  almost  the  whole  length  of  the 
lake,  fully  seven  or  eight  miles,  and  the  owners  had  the 
assurance  to  offer  to  do  it  in  two  days.  I  had  no  idea 
how  far  it  was  to  the  northern  end  or  outlet  of  Lake 
Lindeman,  as  I  had  spent  too  many  years  of  my  life 
among  Indians  to  attempt  to  deduce  even  an  approxi- 
mate estimate  from  the  assurances  of  the  two  "  Sticks  " 
that  "it  was  just  around  the  point  of  land"  to  which 
they  pointed  and  which  may  have  been  four  or  five  miles 
(listant.  I  gave  them,  however,  a  couple  of  loads  of 
material  that  could  be  lost  without  serious  damage, 
weighing  three  hundred  to  four  hundred  pounds,  and  as 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


95 


I  did  not  know  the  length  of  the  lake  I  thought  I  would 
await  their  I'etum  before  attempting  further  progress. 
Even  if  they  could  accomplish  the  bargain  in  double  the 
time  they  proposed  I  was  quite  willir.g  to  let  them  pro- 
ceed, as  I  understood  the  outlet  of  the  lake  was  a  narrow 
riv3r  full  of  cascades  and  rocks  through  which,  according 
to  Indian  reports,  no  rait  of  more  than  a  few  logs  could 
possibly  float.  I  did  not  feel  disposed  to  build  a  couple 
of  such  cumbersome  craft  to  travei*se  so  short  a  distance. 
A  southern  gale  setting  in  shortly  after  their  departure, 
with  waves  running  on  the  lake  a  foot  or  ;;wo  high,  v.as 
too  terrible  a  storm  for  the  rickety  little  boats,  and  we 
did  not  see  any  thing  of  them  or  their  owners  until  three 
days  later,  when  the  men  came  creeping  back  overland — 
the  gale  still  raging — to  explain  matters  which  required 
no  explanation. 

In  the  meantime,  having  surmised  the  failure  of  our 
Indian  contractors,  the  best  logs  available,  whic^i  were 
rather  small  ones  of  stunted  spruce  and  contorted  pine, 
had  been  floated  down  the  little  stream  and  had  been 
tracked  up  and  down  along  the  shores  of  the  lake,  and 
a  raft  made  of  the  somewhat  formidable  dimensions  of 
fifteen  by  thirty  feet,  with  an  elevated  deck  amidships. 
The  rope  lashings  used  on  the  loads  of  the  Indian  pack- 
ers were  put  to  duty  in  binding  the  logs  together,  but 
the  greatest  reliance  was  placed  in  stout  wooden  pins 
which  united  them  by  auger  holes  bored  through  both, 
the  logs  being  cue  or  "saddled  out"  where  they  joined, 
as  is  done  at  the  corners  of  log  cabins.  A  deck  was  made 
on  the  corduroy  plan  of  light  seasoned  pine  poles,  and 
high  enough  to  prevent  ordinary  sized  waves  from  wetting 
the  effects,  while  a  pole  was  rigged  by  mortising  it  into 


1^ 


M 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


one  of  the  central  logs  at  the  bottom  and  supporting  it 
by  four  guy  ropes  from  the  top,  and  from  this  was  sus- 
pended a  wall  tent  as  a  sail,  the  ridge  pole  being  the  yard 
arm,  with  tackling  arranged  to  raise  and  lower  it.  A 
large  bow  and  stern  oar  with  which  to  do  the  steering 
completed  the  rude  craft.  On  the  evening  of  the  14tli  of 
June  the  raft  was  finished,  when  we  found  that,  as  a 
number  of  us  had  surmised,  it  was  not  of  sufficient  buoy- 
ancy to  hold  all  our  effects  as  well  as  the  whole  party  of 
whites  and  natives. 

The  next  day  only  three  white  men,  Mr.  Homan,  Mr. 
Mcintosh  and  Corporal  Shircliff,  were  placed  in  charge. 
About  half  the  stores  were  put  on  the  deck,  tlie  raft 
swung  by  ropes  into  the  swift  current  of  the  stream  so  as 
to  float  it  well  out  into  the  lake,  and  as  the  rude  sail 
was  spread  to  the  increasing  wind,  the  primitive  craft 
commenced  a  journey  that  was  destined  to  measure  over 
thirteen  hundred  miles  before  the  rough  ribs  of  knots 
and  bark  were  laid  to  rest  on  the  great  river,  nearly  half 
a  thousand  miles  of  whose  secrets  were  given  up  to  geo- 
graphical science  through  the  medium  of  her  staunch  and 
trusty  bones.  As  she  slowly  obeyed  her  motive  power, 
the  wind  began  blowing  harder  and  harder,  until  the 
craft  was  pitching  like  a  vessel  laboring  in  an  ocean 
storm  ;  but  despite  this  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  saw 
her  rough  journey  across  the  angry  lake  safely  com- 
pleted, and  this  without  any  damage  to  her  load  worth 
noticing.  The  three  men  had  had  an  extremely  hard 
time  of  it,  and  had  been  compelled  to  take  down  their 
wall  tent  sail,  for  when  this  was  lashed  down  over  the 
stores  on  the  deck  to  protect  them  from  the  deluge  of 
flying  spray  breaking  up  over  the  stern  there  was  ample 


i 


mm 


mmmmm 


mm 


■P^BHMI 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


n 


surface  presented  to  the  f  uriotiH  gale  to  drive  them  along 
at  a  good  round  pace,  esiiecMally  when  near  the  bold 
rocky  whores,  where  all  their  vigilantre  and  muscle  were 
needed  to  keep  them  from  being  (lashed  to  pieces  in  the 
rolling  breakers.  They  had  started  with  a  half  dozen  or 
so  good  stout  poles,  but  in  using  them  over  the  rocks  t)n 
the  bottom  one  would  occsisioiuilly  <rramp  between  a 
couple  of  submerged  stones  and  be  wrested  violently 
fi-om  their  hands  as  the  raft  swept  swiftly  by  before  it 
could  be  extricated.  The  remainder  of  the  per,s'onnely 
white  and  native,  scrambl(?d  over  the  rough  precipitous 
mountain  spurs  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  lake,  wading 
through  bog  and  tangled  underbrush,  then  up  steep 
slippery  granite  rocks  on  to  the  ridge  tops  bristling  with 
fallen  burned  timber,  or  occasionally  steadying  themselves 
on  some  slight  log  that  crossed  a  deep  canon,  whose  bed 
held  a  rushing  stream  where  nothing  less  than  a  trout 
could  live  for  a  minute,  the  one  common  suffering  every 
where  being  from  the  mosquitoes.  The  rest  of  the  stores 
not  taken  on  the  raft  found  their  way  along  slowly  by 
means  of  the  two  dilapidated  canoes,  previously  described, 
in  the  hands  of  our  own  Indians. 

As  we  neared  Camp  7,  at  the  outlet  of  Ijidve  Linde- 
man,  on  the  overland  trail  we  occasionally  met  with  little 
openings  that  might  be  described  by  an  imaginative  per- 
son as  prairies,  and  for  long  stretches,  that  is,  two  and 
three  hundred  yards,  the  walking  would  really  be  pleas- 
ant. 

An  inspection  of  the  locality  showed  that  the  lake  we 
had  just  passed  was  drained  by  a  small  river  averaging 
from  fifty  to  seventy-five  feet  in  width  and  a  little  over  a 
mile  long.    It  w^s  for  nearly  the  whole  length  a  repeti- 


v^ 


i 


I 


V<1\ 


86 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


tion  of  shallow  rapids,  shoals,  cascades,  ugly-looking- 
bowlders,  bars  and  network  of  drift-timber.  At  about 
the  middle  of  its  course  the  worst  cascade  was  split  by  a 
huge  projecting  bowlder,  just  at  a  sudden  bend  of  the 
stream,  and  either  channel  was  barely  large  enough  to 
allow  the  raft  to  pass  if  it  came  end  on,  and  remained  so 
while  going  through,  otherwise  it  would  be  sure  to  jam. 
Through  this  narrow  chute  of  water  the  raft  was  "  shot  '* 
the  next  day — June  16th — and  although  our  predictions 
were  verified  at  this  cascade,  a  few  minutes'  energetic 
work  sufficed  to  clear  it,  with  the  loss  of  a  side-log  or 
two,  and  all  were  glad  to  see  it  towed  and  anchored 
alongside  the  gravelly  beach  on  the  new  lake,  with  so 
little  damage  received.  Here  we  at  once  commenced 
enlarging  its  dimensions  on  a  scale  commensurate  with 
the  carrying  of  our  entire  load,  both  personnel  and 
materiel.  Around  this  unnavigable  and  short  river  the 
Indian  packers  and  traders  portage  their  goods  when 
making  their  way  into  the  interior,  there  being  a  good 
trail  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  stream,  which,  barring  a 
few  sandy  stretches,  connects  the  two  lakes.  I  called 
these  rapids  and  the  portage  Payer  Portage,  after 
Lieutenant  Payer,  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  expedition 
of  1872-74. 

By  the  17th  of  June,  at  midnight,  it  was  light  enough 
to  read  print,  of  the  size  of  that  before  my  readers,  and 
so  continued  throughout  the  month,  except  on  very 
cloudy  nights.  Many  bands  of  pretty  harlequin  ducks 
were  noticed  in  the  Payer  Rapids,  which  seemed  to  be 
their  favorite  resort,  the  birds  rarely  appearing  in  the 
lakes,  and  always  near  the  point  at  which  some  swift 
stream  entered  the  smoother  water.    Black  and  brown. 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


bears  and  caribou  tracks  were  seen  in  the  valley  of  a 
small  stream  that  here  came  in  from  the  west.  This 
valley  was  a  most  picturesque  one  as  viewed  from  the 
Payer  Portage  looking  westward,  and  was  quite  typical 
of  the  little  Alpine  valleys  of  this  locality.  I  named  it 
after  Mr.  Homan,  the  topographer  of  the  expedition. 
We  were  quite  fortunate  in  finding  a  number  of  fallen 
logs,  sound  and  seasoned,  which  were  much  larger  than 
any  in  our  raft,  the  only  trouble  being  that  they  were 
not  long  enough.  All  of  the  large  trees  tapered  rapidly, 
and  at  the  height  of  twenty  or  twenty-five  feet  a  tree 
was  reduced  to  the  size  of  the  largest  of  its  numer- 
ous limbs,  so  that  it  did  not  offer  surface  enough 
at  the  small  end  to  use  with  safety  as  the  side-log  or 
bottom-log  pf  a  well-constructed  craft.  We  soon  had  a 
goodly  number  of  them  sawed  in  proper  lengths,  or,  at 
any  rate,  as  long  as  we  could  get  them,  their  numerous 
limbs  hacked  off,  and  then,  with  much  labor,  we  made 
log-ways  through  the  brush  and  network  of  trunks,  by 
means  of  which  we  plunged  them  into  the  swift  river 
when  they  were  floated  down  to  the  raft's  position.  One 
of  the  delights  of  this  raft-making  was  our  having  to 
stand  a  greater  part  of  the  day  in  ice-water  just  off  the 
mountain  tops,  and  in  strange  contrast  with  this  annoy- 
ance, the  mosquitoes  would  come  buzzing  around  and 
making  work  almost  impossible  by  their  attacks  upon 
Our  heads,  while  at  the  same  time  our  feet  would  be 
freezing.  When  the  larger  logs  were  secured,  they  were 
built  into  the  raft  on  a  plan  of  fifteen  by  forty  feet ;  but, 
taking  into  account  the  projections  outside  of  the  corner 
pins,  the  actual  dimensions  were  sixteen  by  forty-two. 
These  were  never  afterward  changed. 


I 


:  I 


n 


I 


1 1 


A 


lOU 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


Two  elevated  decks  were  now  construrted,  separated 
by  a  lower  ceiitral  spac^e,  where  two  cunibersoine  oars 
might  be  rigged,  that  made  it  possible  to  row  the  jxmder- 
ous  craft  at  the  rate  of  nearly  a  mile  an  hour,  and  these 
side-(jars  were  afterward  used  quite  often  to  reach  some 
camping  place  on  the  beach  of  a  lake  when  the  wind  had 
failed  us  or  set  in  ahead.  The  bow  and  stern  steering- 
oars  were  still  retained,  and  we  thus  had  surplus  oars 
for  either  service,  in  case  of  acjcident,  for  the  two  services 
were  never  employed  at  once  under  any  circumstances. 
There  was  only  one  fault  with  the  new  construction,  and 
that  was  that  none  of  the  logs  extended  the  whole  length 
of  the  raft,  and  the  affair  rather  resembled  a  pair  of 
rafts,  slightly  dove-tailed  at  the  point  of  union,  than  a 
single  raft  of  substantial  build. 

The  new  lake  on  which  we  found  ourselves  was  named 
Lake  Bennett,  after  Mr.  James  Gordon  13ennett,  a  well- 
kn( )  wn  ])a  t  ron  of  American  geographical  research.  While 
we  were  here  a  couple  of  canoes  of  the  same  dilax)idnted 
kind  as  those  we  saw  on  Lake  Lindeman  came  down 
Lake  Bennett,  holding  twice  as  many  Tahk-heesh  India^ns 
who  begged  for  work,  and  wliom  we  put  to  us<;  in 
various  ways.  I  noticed  that  one  of  them  stammei'ed 
considerably,  the  first  Indian  I  ever  met  with  an  impedi- 
ment in  his  speech. 

Among  my  Chilkat  packers  I  also  noticed  one  that 
was  deaf  and  dumb,  and  several  who  were  afflicted  with 
cataract  in  the  eye,  but  none  were  affected  with  the  lat- 
ter disease  to  the  extent  I  had  observed  among  the  Es- 
kimo, with  whom  I  believe  it  is  caused  by  repeated  at- 
tac^ks  of  snow-blindness. 

On  the  summits  of  high  mountains  to  the  right,  or 


hilt 
ith 
sit- 
Es- 
at- 


a  5 

o    V. 


9    t 


?    a 


a.  -: 


^ 


or 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


103 


eastward  of  TjIiUh  Bennett,  were  the  familiar  blue-ice 
glaciers,  but  in  charming  relief  to  these  were  the  red 
r()(;k8  and  ridges  that  protruded  annd  them.  Specimens 
of  ro<!ks  very  similar  in  color  were  found  on  the  lake 
beach  and  in  the  terminal  moraines  of  the  little  gkiciers 
that  came  down  the  gulches,  and  these  having  shown 
iron  as  their  coloring  matter,  I  gave  to  this  bold  mnge 
the  name  of  the  Iron-capped  Mountains. 

On  the  morning  of  the  lUth  of  June  the  construct irs 
reported  that  their  work  was  done,  and  the  mft  was  im- 
mediately hauled  in  closer  to  shore,  the  load  put '.  i  and 
carefully  adjusted  with  reference  to  an  equitable  weight, 
the  bow  and  stem  lines  cast  loose,  and  after  ro^^  ing 
through  a  ./inding  channel  to  get  past  the  shallow  mud- 
flats deposited  by  the  two  streams  which  emptied  them- 
selves near  here,  the  old  wall  tent  was  again  spread  from 
its  ridge-pole,  lashed  to  the  top  of  the  rude  mast,  and 
our  journey  was  resumed. 

The  scenery  along  this  part  of  Lake  Bennett  is  very 
much  like  the  inland  passages  of  Alaska,  except  that 
there  is  much  less  timber  on  the  hills. 

I  had  started  with  four  Chilkat  Indians,  who  were  to 
go  over  the  whole  length  of  the  Yukon  with  me.  One 
of  them  was  always  complaining  of  severe  illness,  with 
such  a  wonderful  adaptation  to  the  amount  of  labor  on 
hand  that  I  discharged  him  at  Lake  Bennett  as  the  only 
method  of  breaking  up  the  coincidence.  The  best  work- 
man among  them  discharged  himself  by  disappearing  with 
a  hatchet  and  an  ax,  and  I  was  left  with  but  two,  neither 
of  whom,  properly  speaking,  could  be  called  a  Chilkat  In- 
dian ;  in  fact  one  was  a  half-breed  Tlinkit  interpreter, 
"  Billy"  Dickinson  by  name,  whose  mother  had  been  a 


mS 


s 


mt 


JMB 


I  r 


il 


;-       t 
i 


104 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


Tsimpsean  Indian  woman  and  whose  father  kept  the 
store  of  the  North-west  Trading  Company  in  Chilkat 
Inlet.  "Billy,"  as  we  always  called  him,  was  a  rather 
good-looking  young  fellow  of  about  twenty -five  years, 
who  understood  the  Tlinkit  language  thoroughly,  but 
had  the  fault  of  nearly  all  interpreters  of  mixed  blood, 
that  when  called  on  for  duty  he  considered  himself  as 
one  of  the  high  contracting  parties  to  the  bargain  to  be 
made  ;  a  sort  of  agent  instead  of  an  interpreter,  and  being 
a  wonderfully  poor  agent  he  became  still  worse  as  an 
interpreter.  He  was  as  strong  as  two  or  three  or- 
dinary men  of  his  build  and  in  any  sort  of  an  emergency 
with  a  sprinkle  of  dangerous  excitement  about  it  he  put 
all  his  strength  to  use  and  proved  invaluable,  but  in  the 
hum-drum,  monotonous  work  of  the  trip,  such  as  the 
steering  of  the  raft  or  other  continuous  labor,  his  Indian 
nature  came  to  the  front,  and  he  did  every  thing  in  the 
world  on  tlie  outskirts  of  the  work  required,  but  would 
not  be  brought  down  to  the  main  issue  until  compelled 
to  do  so  by  the  application  of  strong  language.  Our 
other  native  companion  was  named  Indlanne,  a  Chilkat 
Tahk-heesh  Indian,  whose  familiarity  with  the  latter 
lang'^.age,  through  his  mother,  a  Tahk-heesh  squaw, 
made  him  invaluable  to  us  as  an  interpreter  wliile  in  the 
country  of  this  tribe,  which  stretches  to  the  site  of 
old  Fort  Selkirk  at  the  mouth  of  the  Pelly  River. 
Physically,  Indianne  was  not  all  that  might  be  required 
in  an  Indian,  for  they  are  generally  supposed  to  do  twice 
as  much  out-of-door  work  as  a  white  man,  but  he  was 
well  past  fifty  years  and  such  activity  was  hardly  to  be 
expected  of  him.  Besides  being  a  Tahk-heesh,  or  Stick 
interpreter,  he  was  fairly  familiar  with  the  ground  as  a 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


105  . 


guide,  having  traveled  over  parts  of  it  much  oftener 
than  most  Indians,  owing  to  the  demand  for  his  services 
as  an  interpreter  among  the  Sticlt^s.  Through  the  medium 
of  our  two  interpreters,  and  the  knowledge  found  in  each 
tribe  of  the  language  of  their  neighbors,  we  managed  to 
get  along  on  the  river  until  English  and  Russian  were 
again  encountered,  although  we  occasionally  had  to  use 
four  or  five  interpreters  at  once. 

There  was  a  fair  wind  in  our  favor  as  Ave  started,  but 
it  was  accompanied  with  a  disagreeable  rain  which  made 
things  very  unpleasant,  as  we  had  no  sign  of  a  cover  on 
our  open  boat,  nor  could  we  raise  one  in  a  strong  wind. 
Under  this  wind  we  made  about  a  mile  and  a  half  an 
hour,  and  as  it  kept  slowly  increasing  we  dashed  along 
at  the  noble  rate  of  two  or  two  and  a  half  miles  an  hour. 
This  increasing  wind,  however,  also  had  its  disadvant- 
ages, for  on  long,  unprotected  stretches  of  the  lake  the 
water  was  swelling  into  waves  that  gave  us  no  small 
apprehension  for  our  vessel.  Not  that  we  feared  she 
might  strike  a  rock,  or  spring  a  leak,  but  that  in  her 
peculiar  explorations  she  might  spread  herself  over  the 
lake,  and  her  crew  and  cargo  over  its  bottom.  By  three 
in  the  afternoon  the  waves  were  dashing  high  over  the 
stern,  and  the  raft  having  no  logs  running  its  entire  length, 
was  working  in  the  center  like  an  accoi-dion,  and  with  as 
much  distraction  to  us.  Still  it  was  important  to  take 
advantage  of  every  possible  breath  of  wind  in  the  right 
direction  while  on  the  lakes ;  and  we  held  the  raft 
rigidly  to  the  north  for  about  two  hours  longer,  at  which 
time  a  perfect  hurricane  was  howling,  the  high  waves 
sweeping  the  rowing  space  so  that  no  one  could  stand  on 
his  feet  in  ihat  part,  much  less  sit  down  to  the  oars,  and 


r 


i 


t 

r 

i 


f 


r    I 
i  In 


106 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


as  a  few  of  the  faithful  pins  commenced  snapping,  we 
headed  the  vessel  for  the  eastern  shore  at  as  sharp  an 
angle  as  it  was  possible  to  make  running  before  the 
wind,  and  which  I  do  not  think  was  over  two  points 
of  the  compass,  equal  to  an  angle  of  about  twenty 
degrees. 

This  course  brought  us  in  time  to  a  rough,  rocky  beach 
strewn  with  big  bowlders  along  the  water's  edge,  over 
which  the  waves  were  dashing  in  a  boiling  sheet  of  water 
that  looked  threatening  enough ;  but  a  line  was  gotten 
ashore  through  the  surf  with  the  aid  of  a  canoe,  and 
while  a  number  of  the  crew  kept  the  raft  off  the  rocks 
with  poles,  the  remainder  of  the  party  tracked  it  back 
about  a  half  a  mile  along  the  slippery  stones  of  the 
beach,  to  a  crescent-shaped  cove  sheltered  from  the 
waves  and  wind,  where  it  was  anchored  near  the  beach. 
We  at  once  begau  looking  around  for  a  sufficient  number 
of  long  logs  to  run  the  whole  length  of  the  raft,  a  search 
in  which  we  were  conspicuously  successful,  for  the  tim- 
ber skirting  the  little  cove  was  the  largest  and  best 
adapted  for  raft  repairing  of  any  we  saw  for  many 
hundred  miles  along  the  lakes.  Four  quite  large  Tees 
were  found,  and  all  the  next  day,  the  20th,  was  occu- 
pied in  cutting  them  down,  clearing  a  way  for  them 
through  the  timber  to  the  shore  of  the  lake,  and  prying, 
pulling,  and  pushing  them  there,  and  then  incorporating 
them  into  the  raft.  Two  were  used  for  the  side  logs  and 
two  for  the  center,  and  when  we  had  finished  our  task  it 
was  evident  that  a  much  needed  improvement  had  been 
made.  It  was  just  made  in  time,  too,  for  many  of  our 
tools  were  rapidly  going  to  pieces  ;  the  last  auger  had 
slipped  the  nut  that  held  it  in  the  handle,  so  that  it 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


107 


could  not  be  withdrawn  from  the  logs  to  clear  it  of  the 
shavings,  but  a  small  hand-vise  was  firmly  screwed  on  as 
a  substitute,  and  this  too  lost  its  hold  and  fell  overboard 
on  the  outer  edge  of  the  raft  in  eight  or  ten  feet  of 
water,  and  ice-water  at  that.  A  magnet  of  fair  size  was 
lashed  on  the  end  of  a  long  pole,  and  we  fished  for  the 
invisible  implement,  but  without  avail.  "Billy"  Dick- 
inson, our  half-breed  Chilkat  interpreter,  of  his  own 
free  will  and  accord,  then  stripped  himself  and  dived 
down  into  the  ice-cold  water  and  discovered  that  near 
the  spot  where  it  had  sunk  was  a  precipitous  bank 
of  an  unknown  depth,  down  which  it  had  probably 
rolled,  otherwise  the  magnet  would  have  secured  it. 
Other  means  were  employed  and  we  got  along  with- 
out it. 

The  day  we  spent  in  repairing  the  raft  a  good,  strong, 
steady  wind  from  the  south  kept  us  all  day  in  a  state  of 
perfect  irritation  at  the  loss  of  so  much  good  motive 
power,  but  we  consoled  ourselves  by  observing  that  it 
did  us  one  service  at  least — no  mean  one,  however — in 
keeping  the  mosquitoes  quiet  during  our  labors. 

Across  Lake  Bennett  t'^  the  north-westward  was  a  very 
prominent  cape,  brought  out  in  bold  relief  by  the  valley 
of  a  picturesque  stream,  which  emptied  itself  just  beyond. 
I  called  it  Prejevalsky  Point  after  the  well-known  Rus- 
sian explorer,  while  the  stream  was  called  Wheaton 
River  after  Brevet  Major-General  Frank  Wheaton,  U.  S, 
Army,  at  the  time  commanding  the  Military  Department 
(of  the  Columbia)  in  which  Alaska  is  comprised,  and 
to  whose  efforts  and  generosity  the  ample  outfit  of  the 
expedition  was  due. 

On  the  21st  we  again  started  early,  with  a  good  breeze 


SSSSSSBBmS 


•^ 


108 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


behind  us  that  on  the  long  stretches  gave  us  quite  heavy- 
seas,  wliich  tested  the  raft  very  thoroughly,  and  with  a 
result  much  to  our  satisfaction.  It  no  longer  conformed  to 
the  surface  of  the  long  swelling  waves,  but  remained  rigidly 
intact,  the  helmsman  at  the  steering  oar  getting  consider- 
ably splashed  as  a  consequence.  The  red  rocks  and 
ridges  of  the  ice-covered  mountain  tops  that  I  have  men- 
tioned finally  culminated  in  one  bold,  beetling  pinnacle, 
well  isolated  from  the  rest,  and  quite  noticeable  for 
many  miles  along  the  lake  from  either  direction.  This 
I  named  Richards'  Rock,  after  Vice- Admiral  Richards, 
of  the  Royal  Navy.  The  country  was  becoming  a  little 
more  open  as  we  neared  the  northern  end  of  Lake  Ben- 
nett, and,  indeed,  more  picturesque  in  its  relief  to  the 
monotonous  grandeur  of  the  mountain  scenery.  Lake 
Bennett  is  thirty  miles  long.  At  its  north-western  ex- 
tremity a  couple  of  streams  disembogue,  forming  a  wide, 
flat  and  conspicuous  valley  that,  as  we  approached  it,  we 
all  anticipated  would  prove  our  outlet.  Several  well 
marked  conic^al  buttes  spring  I'rom  this  valley,  and  these 
witli  the  distant  mountains  give  it  a  very  picturesque 
appearance,  its  largest  river  being  sixty  to  seventy-five 
yards  wide,  but  quite  shallow.  It  received  the  name  .  1 
AVatson  Valley,  for  Professor  Sereno  Watson,  of  Har- 
vard University. 

About  five  o'clock  the  northern  end  or  outlet  of  the 
lake  was  reached.  As  the  sail  was  lowered,  and  we 
entered  a  river  from  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  yards 
wide,  and  started  forward  at  a  speed  of  three  or  four  miles 
an  hour — a  pace  which  seemed  ten  times  as  fast  as  our 
progress  upon  the  lake,  since,  from  our  proximity  to  the 
shore,  our  relative  motion  was  more  clearly  indicated, 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


109 


our  spirits  ascended,  and  the  prospects  of  our  future 
journey  when  we  should  be  rid  of  the  lakes  were  joy- 
fully discussed,  and  the  subject  was  not  exhausted  when 
we  grounded  and  ran  upon  a  mud  iiat  that  took  us  two 
hours  of  hard  work  to  get  clear  of.  This  short  stretch  of 
the  draining  river  of  Lake  Bennett,  nearly  two  miles 
long,  is  called  by  the  natives  of  the  country  "  the  place 
where  the  caribou  cross,"  and  appears  on  the  map  as 
Caribou  Crossing. 

At  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  so  the  Tahk-heesh  In- 
dians say,  these  caribou — the  woodland  reindeer — pass 
over  this  ^art  of  the  river  in  large  numbers  in  their 
migrations  to  the  different  feeding  grounds,  supplied 
and  withdrawn  in  turn  by  the  changing  seasons,  and 
ford  its  wide  shallow  current,  passing  backward  and 
forward  through  Watson  Valley.  Unfortunately  for 
our  party  neither  of  these  crossings  occurred  at  this 
time  of  the  year,  although  a  dejected  camp  of  two  Tahk- 
heesh  families  not  far  away  from  ours  (No.  10)  had  a 
very  ancient  reindeer  ham  hanging  in  front  of  their 
brush  tent,  which,  however,  we  did  not  care  to  buy. 
The  numerous  tracks  of  the  animals,  some  apparently  as 
large  as  oxen,  confirmed  the  Indian  stories,  and  as  I 
looked  at  '^"r  skeleton  game  score  and  our  provisions  of 
Government  bacon,  I  wished  sincerely  that  June  was  one 
of  the  months  of  the  reindeers'  migration,  and  the  21st 
or  22d  about  the  period  of  its  culmination. 

The  very  few  Indians  living  in  this  part  of  the  coun- 
try— the  "  Sticks  " — subsist  mostly  on  these  animals  and 
on  mountain  goats,  with  now  and  then  a  wandering 
moose,  and  more  frequently  a  black  bear.  One  would 
expect  to  find  such  followers  of  the  chase  the  very  har- 


mmm 


NVWPP 


5BS 


110 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


diest  of  all  Indians,  in  compliance  with  the  rule  that 
prevails  in  most  countries,  by  which  the  hunter  excels 
the  fisherman,  but  this  does  not  seem  to  be  the  case 
along  this  great  river.  Here,  indeed,  it  appears  that  the 
further  down  the  stream  the  Indian  lives,  and  the  more 
he  subsists  on  fish,  the  hardier,  the  more  robust,  the 
more  self -asserting  and  impudent  he  becomes. 

After  prying  our  raft  oflf  the  soft  mud  flat  we  again 
spread  our  sail  for  the  beach  of  the  little  lake  and  went 
into  camp,  after  having  been  on  the  water  (or  in  it)  for 
over  thirteen  hours. 

The  country  was  now  decidedly  more  open,  and  it  was 
evident  that  we  were  getting  out  of  the  mountains. 
Many  level  spots  appeared,  the  hills  were  less  steep  and 
the  snow  was  melting  from  their  tops.  Pretty  wild  rose- 
blossoms  were  found  along  the  banks  of  the  beach,  with 
many  wild  onions  with  which  we  stuffed  the  wrouglit- 
iron  grouse  that  we  killed,  and  altogether  there  was  a 
general  change  of  verdure  for  the  better.  There  were 
even  a  number  of  rheumatic  grasshoppers  which  feebly 
jumped  along  in  the  cold  Alpine  air,  as  if  to  tempt  us  to 
go  fishing,  in  remembrance  of  the  methods  of  our  boy- 
hood's days,  and  in  fact  every  thing  that  we  needed  for 
that  recreation  was  to  be  had  except  the  fish.  Although 
this  lake  (Lake  Nares,  after  Sir  George  Nares)  was  but 
three  or  four  miles  long,  its  eastern  trend  delayed  us 
three  days  before  we  got  a  favorable  wind,  the  banks  not 
being  good  for  tracking  the  raft.  Our  old  friend,  the 
steady  summer  south  wind,  still  continued,  but  was  really 
a  hindrance  to  our  progress  on  an  eastern  course. 
Although  small.  Lake  Nares  was  one  of  the  prettiest  in 
the  lacustrine  chain,  owing  to  the  greater  openness  of 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


Ill 


country  on  its  banks.  Grand  terraces  stretching  in 
beautiful  symmetry  along  each  side  of  the  lake  plainly 
showed  its  ancient  levels,  these  terraces  reaching  nearly 
to  the  tops  of  the  hills,  and  looking  as  if  some  huge 
giant  had  used  them  as  stairways  over  the  mountains. 
Similar  but  less  conspicuous  terraces  had  been  noticed 
on  the  northern  shores  of  Lake  Bennett. 

Although  we  could  catch  no  iish  while  fishing  with 
bait  or  files,  yet  a  number  of  trout  lines  put  out  over 
night  in  Lake  Nares  rewarded  us  with  a  large  salmon 
trout,  the  first  fish  we  h.id  (!aught  on  the  trip.  I  have 
spoken  of  the  delay  on  this  little  lake  on  account  of  its 
eastward  trend,  and  the  next  lake  kept  np  the  unfavor- 
able course,  and  we  did  not  get  oflf  this  short  eastern 
stretch  of  ten  or  fifteen  miles  for  five  or  six  days,  so 
baffling  was  the  wind.  Of  course,  these  protracted 
delays  gave  us  many  chances  for  rambles  around  the 
country,  some  of  which  we  improved. 

Everywhere  we  came  in  contact  with  the  gi'ouse  of 
these  regions,  all  of  them  with  broods  of  varying  num- 
bers, and  while  the  little  chicks  went  scurrying  through 
the  grass  and  brush  in  search  of  a  hiding  place,  the  old 
ones  walked  along  in  front  of  the  intruder,  often  but  a 
few  feet  away,  seemingly  less  devoid  of  fear  than  the 
common  barn  fowls,  although  i)robably  they  had  never 
heard  a  shot  fired. 

The  Doctor  and  I  sat  down  to  rest  on  a  large  rock  with 
a  perturbed  mother  .grouse  on  another  not  over  three 
yards  away,  and  we  could  inspect  her  plumage  and  study 
her  actions  as  well  as  if  she  had  been  in  a  cage.  The 
temptation  to  kill  them  was  very  great  after  having  been 
so  long  without  fresh  meat,  a  subsistence  the  appetite 


mm 


mmmm'm 


112 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER 


loudly  demands  in  the  rough  out-of-door  life  of  an 
explorer.  A  mess  of  them  ruthlessly  destroyed  by  our 
Indian  hunters,  who  had  no  fears  of  the  game  law,  no 
sportsman's  qualms  of  conscience,  nor  in  fact  compassion 
of  any  sort,  lowered  our  desire  to  zero,  for  they  were 
tougher  than  leather,  and  as  tasteless  as  shavings  ;  and 
after  that  first  mess  '^e  were  perfectly  willing  to  allow 
them  all  the  rights  guaranteed  by  the  game  laws  of  lower 

latitudes. 

Quite  a  number  of 
marmots  were  seen  by 
our  Indians,  and  the 
hillsides  were  dotted 
with  their  holes.  The 
Indians  catch  them  for 
fur  and  food  (in  fact, 
every  thing  living  is 
used  by  the  Indians  for 
the  latter  purpose)  by 
means  of  running 
nooses  put  over  their 
holes,  which  choke  the 
little  animal  to  death 
as  he  tries  to  quit  his 
underground  home.  A 
fineJ-^  split  raven  quill,  running  the  whole  length  of 
the  rib  of  the  feather,  is  used  for  the  noose  proper, 
and  the  instant  this  is  sprung  it  closes  by  its  own 
flexibility.  The  rest  is  a  sinew  string  tied  to  a  bush 
near  the  hole  if  one  be  convenient,  otherwise  tb  a 
peg  driven  in  the  ground.  Sometimes  they  employ  a  little 
of  the  large  amount  of  leisure  time  they  have  on  their 


CABVED   PINS  POR   FASTENING  MAR 
MOT  SrVRES. 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


118 


hands  in  cutting  these  pegs  into  fanciful  and  totemie 
designs,  although  in  this  respect  the  Sticks,  as  in  every- 
thing else  pertaining  to  the  savage  arts,  are  usually  much 
inferior  to  the  Chilkatsin  these  displays,  and  the  illustra- 
tions give  on  page  112  are  characteristic  rather  of  the  latter 
tribe  than  of  the  former.  Nearly  all  the  blankets  of  this 
Tahk-heesh  tribe  of  Indians  are  made  from  these  marmot 
skins,  and  they  are  exceedingly  light  considering  their 
warmth.  Much  of  the  warmth,  however,  is  lost  by  the 
ventilated  condition  in  which  the  wearers  maintain  them, 
as  it  costs  labor  to  mend  them,  but  none  to  sit  around 
and  shiver. 

The  few  Tahk-heesh  who  had  been  camped  near  us  at 
Caribou  Crossing  suddenly  disappeared  the  night  after 
we  camped  on  the  little  lake,  and  as  our  "gum  canoe" 
that  we  towed  along  behind  the  raft  and  used  for  emer- 
gencies, faded  from  view  at  the  same  eclipse,  ^ve  were 
forced  to  associate  the  events  together  and  set  these 
fellows  down  as  subject  to  kleptomania.  Nor  should  I 
be  too  severe  either,  for  the  canoe  had  been  picked  up  by 
us  on  Lake  Lindeman  as  a  vagrant,  and  it  certainly- 
looked  the  character  in  every  respect,  therefore  we  could 
not  show  the  clearest  title  in  the  world  to  the  dilapidated 
craft.  It  was  a  very  fortunate  circumstance  that  we  were 
not  worried  for  the  use  of  a  canoe  afterward  until  we 
could  purchase  a  substitute,  although  we  hardly  thought 
such  a  thing  possible  at  the  time,  so  much  had  we  used 
the  one  that  ran  away  with  our  friends. 

The  23d  of  June  we  got  across  the  little  lake  (Nares), 
the  wind  dying  down  as  we  went  through  its  short  drain- 
ing river,  having  made  only  three  miles. 

The  next  day,  the  24th,  the  wind  seemed  to  keep  swing- 


114 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


I 


ing  around  in  a  circle,  and  although  we  made  five  niiles^ 
I  think  we  made  as  many  landings,  so  often  did  the  wind 
fail  us  or  set  in  ahead. 

This  new  lake  I  called  after  Lieutenant  Bove  of  the  Ital- 
ian navy.  Here  too,*the  mountainous  shores  were  carved 
into  a  series  of  terraces  rising  one  above  the  other,  which 
probably  indi(;ated  tlie  ancient  beaches  of  the  lake  when 
its  outlet  was  closed  at  a  much  higher  level  than  at 
present,  and  when  great  bodies  of  ice  on  their  surface 
plowed  up  the  beach  into  these  terraces.  This  new  lake 
was  nine  miles  long.  The  next  day  again  we  had  the 
same  tight  with  a  battling  wind  from  half  i)ast  six  in  the 
morning  until  after  nine  at  night,  nearly  seventeen 
hours,  but  we  managed  to  make  twelve  miles,  and  better 
than  all,  regain  our  old  course  pointing  northward. 
During  one  of  these  temporary  landings  on  the  ^ihores  of 
Lake  Bove  our  Indians  amused  themselves  in  wasting 
government  matches,  articles  which  they  had  never  seen 
in  such  profusion  before,  and  in  a  little  while  they  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  some  dead  and  fallen  spruce  trees  on 
fire,  and  these  communicating  to  the  living  ones  above 
them,  soon  sent  up  great  billows  of  dense  resinous  smoke 
that  must  have  been  visible  for  miles,  and  which  lasted 
for  a  number  of  minutes  after  we  had  left.  Before  camp- 
ing that  evening  we  could  see  a  very  distant  smoke,  appar- 
ently six  or  seven  miles  ahead,  but  really  ten  pr  twenty, 
which  our  Indians  told  us  was  an  answering  smoke  to 
them,  the  Tahk-heesh,  who  kindled  the  second  fire,  evi- 
dently thinking  that  they  were  Chilkat  traders  in  their 
country,  this  being  a  frequent  signal  among  them  as  a 
means  of  announcing  their  approach,  when  engaged  in 
trading.    It  was  worthy  of  note  as  marking  the  exist- 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


lis 


«nce  of  this  primitive  method  of  signaling,  so  common 
uiu()n<;  some  of  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  phiins,  among 
these  far-off  savages,  but  I  was  unable  to  as(;ertain 
wlietiier  they  (;arried  it  to  such  a  degree  of  intri- 
cacy with  respect  to  the  different  meanings  of  compound 
smokes  either  as  to  number  or  relative  intervals  of  time 
or  space.  It  is  very  doubtful  if  they  do,  as  the  necessity 
for  such  complex  signals  can  hardly  arise. 

This  new  lake  on  which  we  had  taken  up  oui  northward 
course,  and  which  is  about  eighteen  milesjong,  is  called 
by  the  Indians  of  the  country  Tahk-o  (each  lake  and 
connecting  length  of  river  hasa  different  name  with  them), 
and,  I  understand,  receives  a  river  coming  in  from  the 
south,  which,  followed  up  to  one  of  its  sources,  gives  a 
mountain  pass  to  another  river  emptying  into  the  inland 
estiuiries  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  is  said  by  the  Indians 
to  be  smaller  than  the  one  we  had  just  come  over,  and 
therefore  we  might  consider  that  we  were  on  the  Yukon 
l)roper  thus  far. 

Lake  Tahk-o  and  Lake  Bove  are  almost  a  single  sheet, 
separated  only  by  a  narrow  strait  formed  by  a  point  of 
remarkable  length  (Point  Perthes,  after  Justus  Perthes 
of  Gotha),  which  juts  nearly  across  to  the  opposite  shore. 
It  is  almost  covered  with  limestones,  some  of  them 
almost  true  marble  in  their  whiteness,  a  circumstance 
which  gives  a  decided  hue  to  the  cape  even  when  seen  at 
a  distance. 

Leaving  the  raft  alongside  the  beach  of  Lake  Tahk-o  at 
our  only  camping  place  on  it  (Camp  No.  13),  a  short  stroll 
along  its  shores  revealed  a  great  number  of  long,  well- 
trimmed  logs  that  strongly*  resembled  telegi'aph  poles^ 
and  would  have  sold  for  those  necessary  nuisances  in  a 


116 


ALONG  AL  i SKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


civilized  country.  They  were  finally  made  out  to  be 
the  logH  used  by  the  Indiann  in  rafting  down  the  stream, 
and  well-trimmed  by  constant  attrition  on  the  rough 
rocky  beaches  while  held  there  by  the  storms.  Most 
of  these  were  observed  on  the  northern  shores  of  the 
lakes,  to  which  the  current  through  them,  slight  as  it 
was,  coupled  with  the  prevailing  south  wind,  naturally 
drifts  them.     I  afterward  ascertained  that  rafting^  was. 


LOOKING    ACROSS   LAKE    HOVE    FROM    PERTHES      POINT. 
Field  Peak  in  the  far  distance.    (Named  for  Hon.  David  Dudley  Field.) 


^juitea  usual  thing  along  the  head  waters  of  the  Yukon, 
and  that  we  were  not  pioneers  in  this  rude  art  by  any 
means,  although  we  had  thought  so  from  the  direful 
prognostications  they  were  continually  making  as  to  our 
probable  success  with  our  own.  The  "cotton wood" 
canoes  already  referred  to  are  very  scarce,  there  prob- 
ably not  existing  over  ten  or  twelve  along  the  whole 
length  of  the  upper  river  as  far  as  old  Fort  Selkirk.  Many 
of  their  journeys  up  the  swift  stream  are  performed 


vj 


ALONG  THK  LAKES. 


117 


by  the  iiativeH  on  foot,  carrying  their  limited  npressities 
on  their  bacli.s.  Upon  their  return  a  small  raft  of  from 
two  to  six  or  eight  logs  is  made,  and  tiiey  lloat  down 
with  the  current  in  the  streams,  and  pole  and  sail 
across  the  hikes,  liy  comparing  these  logs  with  tele- 
graph poles  one  has  a  good"  idea  of  the  usual  size  of  the 
timber  of  these  districts.  The  scarcity  of  good  wooden 
canoes  is  also  partidly  explained  by  this  smallness  of  the 
logs ;  while  birch  bark  (^anoes  are  unknown  on  the  Yukon 
until  the  neighborhood  of  old  Fort  Selkirk  is  reached. 
This  same  Ljike  Tahk-o,  or  probably  some  lake  very 
near  it,  had  been  reached  by  an  intrepid  miner,  a  Mr. 
Byrnes,  then  in  the  employ  of  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company.  Many  of  my  readers  are  ])robi  aly 
not  acquainted  with  the  fact  that  this  corporation,  at 
about  the  close  oi  our  civil  war,  conceived  the  grand  idea 
of  uniting  civilization  in  the  eastern  and  western  conti- 
nents by  a  t<"legraph  line  running  by  way  of  Bei-ing's 
Straits,  and  that  a  great  deal  ct  the  preliminaiy  sur- 
veys and  even  a  vast  amount  of  the  actual  work  had 
been  completed  when  the  success  of  the  Atlanti(5  cable 
put  a  stop  to  the  project.  The  Yukon  River  had  been 
carefully  examined  from  its  mouth  as  far  as  old  Fort 
Yukon  (then  a  flourishing  Hudson  Bay  Company  post), 
some  one  thousand  miles  from  the  mouth,  and  even 
roughly  beyond,  in  their  interest,  although  it  had  previ- 
ously been  more  or  less  known  to  the  Russian-American 
and  Hudson  Bay  trading  companies.  Mr.  Byrnes,  a 
practical  miner  from  the  Caribou  mines  of  British 
Columbia,  crossed  the  Tahk-o  Pass,  already  cited,  got  on 
one  of  the  sources  of  the  Yuk  n,  and  as  near  as  can 
be   made  out,  descended  it  to  t'.e  vicinity  of  the  Iwke 


118 


ALONG  ALASKA  S  GREAT  RIVER. 


% 


m 


of  which  I  am  writing.  Here  it  appears  lie  was  recalled 
by  a  courier  sent  on  his  trail  and  dispatched  by  the 
telegraph  company,  who  were  now  mournfully  assist- 
ing in  the  jubilee  of  the  Atlantic  cable's  success,  and  he 
retraced  his  steps  over  the  river  and  lakes,  and  returned 
to  his  former  occupation  of  mining. 

Whether  he  ever  furnished  a  map  and  a  description  of 
his  journey,  so  that  it  could  be  called  an  exploration, 
I  do  not  know,  but  from  the  books  which  purport  to 
give  a  description  of  the  country  as  deduced  from  lii.« 
travels,  I  should  say  not,  considering  their  great  inac- 
curacy. One  book,  noticing  his  travels,  and  purjDorting 
to  be  a  faithful  record  of  the  telegraph  explorers  on  the 
American  side,  said  that  had  Mr.  Byrnes  continued  his 
trip  only  a  day  and  a  half  further  in  the  light  birch- 
bark  canoes  of  the  country,  he  would  have  reached  old 
Fort  Selkirk,  and  thus  completed  the  exploration  of  the 
Yukon.  Had  he  reached  the  site  of  old  Fort  Selkirk, 
he  certainly  would  have  had  the  credit,  had  he  recorded 
it,  however  rough  hi?  notes  may  have  been,  but  he 
would  never  have  done  so  in  the  light  birch-bark 
canoes  of  the  country,  for  the  conclusive  reason  that 
they  do  not  exist,  as  already  stated  ;  and  as  to  doing 
it  in  a  day  and  a  half,  our  measurements  from  Lake 
Tahk-o  to  Fort  Selkirk  show  nearly  four  hundred  and 
lifty  miles,  and  observations  proved  that  the  Indians 
seldom  exceed  a  journey  of  six  hours  in  their  cramped 
wooden  craft,  so  that'  his  progress  would  necessarily 
have  demanded  a  speed  of  nearly  fifty  miles  an  hour. 
At  this  rate  of  canoeing  along  the  whole  river,  across 
Bering  Sea  and  up  the  Amoor  River,  the  telegraph  com- 
pany need  not  have  completed  their  line  along  this  part, 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


119 


larily 
loiir. 
cross 
com- 
part, 


but  might  simply  have  turned  their  dispatch  over  to 
these  rapid  couriers,  and  they  would  have  only  been  a 
few  hours  behind  the  telegrai)h  dispatch  if  it  liad  been 
worked  as  slowly  as  it  is  now  in  the  interest  of  the 
public. 

We  passed  out  of  Lake  Tahko  a  little  after  two  o'  clock 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  26th  of  June,  and  entered  the 
first  considerable  stretch  of  river  that  we  had  yet  met 
with  on  the  trip,  about  nine  miles  long.  We  quitted  the 
river  at  five  o'clock,  which  was  quite  an  improvement 
on  our  lake  traveling  even  at  its  best.  The  first  part  of 
this  short  river  stretch  is  full  of  dangerous  rocks  and 
bowlders,  as  is  also  the  lower  portion  of  Tahko  Lake. 

On  the  right  bank  of  the  river,  about  four  miles  from 
the  entrance,  w^e  saw  a  tolerably  well-built  "Stick" 
Indian  house.  Near  it  in  the  water  was  a  swamped  Indian 
canoe  which  one  of  our  natives  bailed  out  in  a  manner 
as  novel  as  it  was  eflfectual.  Grasping  it  on  one  side, 
and  about  the  center,  a  rocking  motion,  fore  and  aft,  was 
kept  up,  the  bailer  wail  ing  until  the  recurrent  wave  was 
just  striking  the  depressed  end  of  the  boat,  and  as  this 
was  rei)eated  the  canoe  was  slowly  lifted  until  it  stood 
at  his  waist  with  not  enough  water  in  it  to  sink  an  oyster 
can.  This  occupied  a  space  of  time  not  much  greater 
than  it  has  taken  to  relate  it.  This  house  was  deserted, 
but  evidently  only  for  a  while,  as  a  great  deal  bf  its 
owner's  material  of  the  chase  and  the  fishery  was  still 
to  be  seen  hanging  inside  on  the  rafters.  Among  these 
were  a  great  number  of  dried  salmon,  one  of  the  staple 
articles  of  food  that  now  begin  to  appear  on  this  part  of 
the  great  river,  nearly  two  thousand  miles  from  its 
mouth.     This  salmon,  when  dried  before  putrefaction 


^Pl 


120 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


'M 


[i 


sets  in,  is  toleiable,  ranking  somewhere  between  Lim- 
burger  cheese  and  walrus  liide.  Collecting  some  of  it 
occasionally  from  Indian  fishermen  as  we  floated  by,  we 
wonid  use  it  as  a  lunch  in  homeopathic  quantities  until 
some  of  us  got  so  far  as  to  imagine  that  we  really  liked 
it.  If  smoked,  this  salmon  is  quite  good,  but  by  far  the 
larger  amount  is  dried  in  the  open  air,  and,  Indian  like, 
the  best  is  first  served  and  soon  disappears. 

Floating  down  the  river,  and  coming  near  any  of  the 
low  marshy  points,  we  were  at  on^ e  visited  by  myriads 
of  small  black  gnats  which  formed  a  very  unsolicited 
addition  to  the  millions  of  mosquitoes,  the  number  of 
which  did  not  diminish  in  the  least  as  we  descended  the 
river.  The  only  protection  from  them  was  in  being  well 
out  from  land,  with  a  good  wind  blowing,  or  when  forced 
to  camj)  on  shore  a  heavy  resinous  smoke  would  often 
disx)erse  a  large  part  of  them. 

When  v/e  camped  that  evening  on  the  new  lake  the 
signal  smoke  of  the  Tahk-heesh  Indians — if  it  was  one — 
was  still  burning,  at  least  some  six  or  seven  miles  ahead 
of  us,  which  showed  how  much  we  had  been  mistaken  in 
estimating  its  distance  the  day  before.  A  tree  has  some- 
thing definite  in  its  size,  and  even  a  butte  or  moimtain 
peak  has  something  tangible  on  which  a  person  can  base  a 
calculation  for  distsmce,  but  when  one  comes  down  to  a 
distant  smoke  I  think  the  greatest  indefiniteness  has 
been  reached,  especially  wliei)  on^  wants  to  estimate  itfi 
distance,  I  had  often  observed  this  before,  when  on  the 
plains,  where  it  is  still  worse  than  in  a  hilly  country, 
where  one  can  at  least  perceive  that  the  smoke  is  beyond 
the  hill,  back  of  which  it  rises,  but  when  often  looking 
down  an  open  river  valley  no  such  indications  are  to  be 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


121 


we 


had.  I  remember  when  traveling  through  the  sand  hills 
of  western  Nebraska  that  a  smoke  which  was  variously 
estimated  to  be  from  eight  to  twelve  or  possibly  fifteen 
miles  away  took  us  two  days'  long  traveling  in  an  army 
ambulance,  making  thirty-five  or  forty  miles  a  day,  as 
the  winding  road  ran,  to  reach  its  site. 

The  shores  of  the  new  lake — which  I  named  Lake 
Marsh,  after  Professor  O.  C.  Marsh,  a  well-known 
scientist  of  our  country — was  composed  of  all  sizes  of 


LOOKING   SOrXHWARD    FROM   CAMP    14    ON    LAKE    MARSH 

On  the  left  is  the  Tahko  Pass,  on  the  rlsht  the  Yukon  Pass  in  tho  mountains,  directly 
over  the  point  of  land.  Between  this  point  and  the  Yukon  Pass  caa  be  neen  the  Yukon 
River  coining  into  the  lake. 

day  stones  jumbled  together  in  confusion,  and  where  the 
water  had  reached  and  beat  upon  them  it  had  reduced 
them  to  a  sticky  clay  of  the  consistency  of  thick  mortar, 
not  at  all  easy  to  walk  through.  This  mire,  accompanied 
by  a  vast  quantity  of  mud  brought  down  by  the.  streams 
that  emanated  from  grinding  glaciers,  and  which  could 
be  distinguished  by  the  whiter  color  and  impalpable 
character  of  its  ingredients,  nearly  filled  the  new  lake, 
at  least  for  wide  strips  along  the  shores  where  it  had 
been  driven  by  the  storms.     Although  drawing  a  little 


BWB 


123 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


less  than  two  feet  of  water,  the  raft  struck  several  times 
at  distances  from  the  shore  of  from  fifty  to  a  hundred 
yards,  and  the  only  alternative  was  to  wade  ashore  in 
our  rubber  boots  (the  soft  mud  being  deei)er  than  the 
water  itself)  and  tie  the  raft  by  a  long  line  whenever  we 
wanted  to  camp. 

One  night,  while  on  this  lake,  a  strong  inshore  breeze 
coming  up,  our  raft,  while  unloaded,  was  gradually 
lifted  by  the  incoming  high  waves,  and  brought  a  few 
inches  further  at  a  time,  until  a  number  of  yards  had 
been  made.  The  next  morning  when  loaded  and  sunk 
deep  into  the  mud,  the  work  we  had  to  pry  it  oflf  is  more 
easily  imagined  than  described,  but  it  taught  us  a  lesson 
tliat  \ve  took  to  heart,  and  thereafter  a  friendly  prod  or 
two  with  a  bar  was  generally  given  at  the  ends  of  the 
cumbersome  craft  to  j)ry  it  gradually  into  deeper  w^ater 
as  the  load  slowly  weighed  it  down.  When  the  wind 
was  blowing  vigorously  from  some  quarter — and  it  was 
only  when  it  was  blowing  that  we  could  set  sail  and 
make  any  progress — these  shallow  mud  banks  would 
tinge  the  water  over  them  with  a  dirty  white  color  that 
was  in  strong  contrast  with  the  clear  blue  water  over  the 
deeper  portion,  and  by  closely  watching  this  well-defined 
line  of  demarcation  when  under  sail,  we  could  make  out 
the  most  favorable  points  at  which  to  reach  the  bank,  or 
approach  it  as  nearly  as  possible.  This  clear-cut  outline 
between  the  whitened  water  within  its  exterior  edges 
and  the  deep  blue  water  beyond,  shoAved  in  many  places 
an  extension  of  the  deposits  of  from  four  hundred  to 
five  hundred  yards  from  the  beach.  It  is  prol)able  that 
the  areas  of  water  may  vary  in  Lake  Marsh  at  different 
seasons  sufficiently  to  lay  bare  these  mud  banks,  or  cover 


t^n 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


123 


them  so  as  to  be  navigable  for  small  boats ;  but  at  the 
time  of  our  visit  there  seemed  to  be  a  most  wonderful 
uniformity  in  th(b  depth  of  the  water  over  them  in  every 
part  of  the  lake,  it  being  about  eighteen  inches. 

Camping  on  the  lakes  was  generally  quite  an  easy 
affair.  There  was  always  i^lenty  of  wood,  and,  of  course, 
water  everywhere,  the  clear,  cold  mountain  springs 
occurring  every  few  hundred  yards  if  the  lake  water  was 
too  muddy  ;  so  that  about  all  that  we  needed  was  a  dry 
place  large  enough  to  pitch  a  couple  of  tents  for  the 
white  people  and  a  tent  liy  for  the  Indians,  but  simple 
as  the  latter  seemed,  it  was  very  often  (juite  difficult  to 
obtain.  It  was  seldom  that  we  found  places  where  tent 
pins  could  be  driven  in  the  ground,  and  when  rocks 
large  enough  to  do  duty  as  pins,  or  fallen  timber  or 
brush  for  the  same  purpose  could  not  be  had,  we  gener- 
ally put  the  tent  under  us,  spread  our  blankets  upon  it, 
crawled  in  and  went  to  sleep.  The  greatest  comfort  in 
pitching  our  tent  was  in  keeping  out  the  mosquitoes,  for 
then  we  could  spread  our  mosquito  bars  with  some  show 
of  success,  although  the  constantly  recurring  light  rains 
made  us  often  regret  that  we  had  made  a  bivouac,  not 
particularly  on  account  of  the  slight  wettings  we  got, 
but  because  of  our  constant  fear  that  the  rain  was  going 
to  be  much  worse  in  reality  than  it  ever  proved  to  be. 
I  defy  any  one  to  sleep  in  the  open  air  with  only  a 
blanket  or  two  over  him  and  have  a  great  black  cloud 
sprinkle  a  dozen  drops  of  rain  or  so  in  his  face  and  not 
imagine  the  deluge  was  coming  next.  I  have  tried  it  off 
and  on  for  nearly  twenty  years,  and  have  not  got  over 
the  feeling  yet.  If,  after  camping,  a  stonn  threatened, 
a  couple  of  stout  skids  were  placed  fore  and  aft  under 


■PW 


124 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


\l 


the  logs  of  the  raft  nearest  the  shore  to  prevent  their 
breaking  off  as  they  bumped  on  the  beach  in  the  waves 
of  the  surf,  a  monotonous  music  that  lulled  us  to  sleep 
on  many  a  stormy  night.  The  baggage  on  the  raft,  like 
that  in  an  army  wagon  or  upon  a  pack  train  of  mules,  in 
a  few  days  so  assorted  itself  that  the  part  necessary  for 
the  night's  camping  was  always  the  handiest,  and  but  a 
few  minutes  were  required  after  lauding  until  the  even- 
ing meal  was  ready. 

So  important  was  it  to  make  the  entire  length  of  the 
river  (over  2000  miles)  within  the  short  interval  between 
the  date  of  our  starting  and  the  probable  date  of  depart- 
ure of  the  last  vessel  from  St.  Michaels,  near  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  that  but  little  time  was  left  for  rambles 
tlirough  the  country,  and  much  as  I  desired  to  take  a 
hunt  inland,  and  still  more  to  make  an  examination  of 
the  country  at  various  points  along  the  great  river,  I 
constantly  feared  that  by  so  doing  I  might  be  compro- 
mising our  chances  of  getting  out  of  the  country  before 
winter  should  effectually  forbid  it.  Therefore,  from  the 
very  start  it  was  one  constant  fight  against  time  to  avoid 
such  an  unwished  for  contingency,  and  thus  we  could 
avail  ourselves  of  but  few  opportunities  for  exploring  the 
interior. 

On  the  28th  of  June  a  fair  breeze  on  Lake  Marsh  con- 
tinuing past  sunset  (an  unusual  occurrence),  we  kept  on 
our  way  until  well  after  midnight  before  the  wind  died 
out.  At  midnight  it  was  light  enough  to  read  common 
pr= !  '  and  I  spent  some  time  about  then  in  working  out 
ceri  i,  astronomical  observations.  Venus  was  the  only 
star  that  was  dimly  visible  in  the  unclouded  sky.  Lake 
Marsh  was  the  first  water  that  we  could  trust  in  which  to 


I  ilj 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


125 


take  a  bath,  and  even  there — and  for  that  matter  it  was 
the  same  along  the  entire  river — bathing  was  only  possi- 
ble on  still,  warm,  sunny  days. 

Below  old  Fort  Selkirk  on  the  Yukon,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  White  River  (so-called  on  account  of  its  white 
muddy  water),  bathing  is  almost  undesirable  on  account 
of  the  large  amount  of  sediment  contained  in  the  water  ; 
its  swift  current  allowing  it  to  hold  much  more  than. any 
river  of  the  western  slope  known  to  me,  while  its  muddy 
banks  furnish  a  ready  base  of  supplies.  Its  temperature 
also  seldom  reaches  the  point  that  will  allow  one  to 
X)lunge  in  all  over  with  any  degree  of  comfort.  One  an- 
noyance in  bathing  in  Lake  Marsh  during  the  warmer 
hours  of  the  day  was  the  presence  of  a  large  fly,  some- 
what resembling  the  "horse-fly,"  but  much  larger  and 
inflicting  a  bite  that  was  proportionately  more  severe. 
These  flies  made  it  necessary  to  keep  constantly  swinging 
a  towel  in  the  air,  and  a  momentary  cessation  of  this 
exertion  might  be  punished  by  having  a  piece  bitten  out 
of  one  that  a  few  days  later  would  look  like  an  incipi- 
ent boil.  One  of  the  party  so  bitten  was  completely 
disabled  for  a  week,  and  at  the  moment  of  infliction  it 
was  hard  to  believe  that  one  was  not  disabled  for  life. 
With  these  "horse"  flies,  gnats  and  mosquitoes  in  such 
dense  profusion,  the  Yukon  Valley  is  not  held  uj)  as  a 
paradise  to  future  tourists. 

The  southern  winds  which  had  been  blowing  almost 
continuously  since  we  first  spread  our  sail  on  Lake  Lin- 
deman,  and  -  hich  had  been  our  salvation  while  on 
the  lakes,  must  prevail  chiefly  in  this  region,  as  witness 
the  manner  in  which  the  spruce  and  pine  trees  invariably 
lean  to  the  northward,  especially  where  their  isolated 


it 


I! 


I 


126 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVKR. 


condition  and  exposure  on  flat  level  tracts  give  the  winds 
full  play,  to  influence  their  position.  Near  Lake  Lin- 
denian  a  dwarfed,  contorted  ijine  was  noticed,  the  flbers 
of  which  were  not  only  twisted  around  its  heart  two  or 
three  times,  in  a  height  of  fifteen  or  twenty  feet,  but  the 
heart  itself  was  twisted  in  a  spiral  like  a  corkscrew  that 
made  two  or  three  turns  in  its  length,  after  which,  as  if 
to  add  confusion  to  disorder,  it  was  bent  in  a  graceful 
sweep  to  the  north  to  conform  to  the  general  lejining  of 
all  the  trees  similarly  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  winds. 
There  was  a  general  brash  condition  of  all  the  wood 
which  was  very  apparent  when  we  started  to  make  pins 
for  binding  the  raft,  while  it  was  seldom  that  a  log  was 
found  large  enough  for  cutting  timber.  The  little  cove 
into  which  we  put  on  the  19th  of  June,  when  chased  by 
a  gale,  by  a  singular  freak  of  good  fortune  had  just  the 
logs  we  needed,  both  as  to  length  and  size,  to  repair  our 
raft,  and  I  do  not  think  w^e  saw  a  good  chance  again  on 
the  uj)per  waters  of  the  Yukon.  Further  down,  every  is- 
land— and  the  Yukon  has  probably  as  many  islands 
as  any  half-dozen  rivers  of  the  same  size  in  the  world 
put  together — has  its  upper  end  covered  with  enough 
timber  to  build  all  the  rafts  a  lively  party  could  con- 
struct in  a  summer. 

Lake  Marsh  also  had  a  few  terraces  visible  on  the  east- 
ern hillsides,  but  they  were  nearer  together  and  not  so 
well  marked  as  those  we  observed  on  some  of  tlie  lakes 
further  back.  Along  these,  however,  were  pretty  open 
prairies,  covered  with  the  dried,  yellow  grjiss  of  last 
year,  this  summer's  growth  having  evidently  not  yet 
forced  its  way  through  the  dense  mass.  More  than  one 
of  us  compared  these  prairies,  irregular  as  they  seemed. 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


iSff 


with  the  stubble  liehls  of  wheat  or  outs  in  more  civilized 
climes.  I  have  no  doubt  that  they  furnish  good  grazing 
to  mountain  goats,  caribou  and  moose,  and  would  be 
sufficient  for  cattle  if  they  could  keep  on  friendly  terms 
with  the  mosquitoes.  According  to  the  general  terms  of 
the  survival  of  the  littest  and  the  growth  of  mnscles  th<^ 
most  used  to  the  detriment  of  others,  a  band  of  cattle 
inhabiting  this  district  in  the  far  future  would  be  all 


ST\CKS 


--— blkgH 


At  lku. 


TYPICAL   TAHK-HERSII    OR    "  STICK  "    INDIANS. 
From  sketches  by  Sergeant  Oloster. 

tail  and  no  body  unless  the  mosquitoes  should  experience 
a  change  of  numbers. 

At  Marsh  a  few  miserable  '*  Stick  "  Indians  put  in  an 
appearance,  but  not  a  single  thing  could  be  obtained 
from  them  by  our  curiosity  hunters.  A  rough-looking 
pair  of  shell  ear-rings  in  a  small  boy's  possession  he  in- 
stantly refused  to  exchange  for  the  great  consideration  of 
a  jack-knife  offered  by  a  member  of  the  party,  who  sup- 


::t3 


128 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


posed  the  ornaments  to  be  purely  local  in  character  and 
of  savage  manufacture.  Another  trinket  was  added  to 
the  jack-knife  and  still  refused,  and  additions  were  made 
to  the  original  offer,  until  just  to  see  if  there  was  any 
limit  to  the  acquisitiveness  of  these  people,  a  final  oflFer 
was  made,  I  believe,  of  a  double-barreled  shot-gun  with 
a  thousand  rounds  of  ammunition,  a  gold  watch,  two 
sacks  of  flour  and  a  camp  stove,  and  in  refusing  this  the 
boy  generously  added  the  information  that  its  value  to 
him  was  based  on  the  fact  that  it  had  been  received  from 
the  Chilkats,  who,  in  turn,  had  obtained  it  from  the 
white  traders. 

A  few  scraggy  half-starved  dogs  accompanied  the 
party.  An  unconquerable  pugnacity  was  the  principal 
characteristic  of  these  animals,  two  of  them  fighting 
until  they  were  so  exhausted  that  they  had  to  lean 
up  against  each  other  to  rest.  A  dirty  group  of  chil- 
dren of  assorted  sizes  completed  the  picture  of  one  of  the 
most  dejected  races  of  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 
They  visited  their  fish  lines  at  the  mouth  of  the  incom- 
ing river  at  the  head  of  Lake  Marsh,  and  caught  enough 
fish  to  keep  body  and  soul  together  after  a  fashion. 
This  method  of  fishing  is  quite  common  in  this  j)art  of 
the  country,  and  at  the  mouth  of  a  number  of  streams, 
or  where  the  main  stream  debouches  into  a  lake,  long 
willow  poles  driven  far  enough  into  the  mud  to  prevent 
their  washing  away  are  often  seen  projecting  upward 
and  swayed  back  and  forth  by  the  force  of  the  current. 
On  closer  examination  they  reveal  a  sinew  string  tied  to 
them  at  about  the  water-line  or  a  little  above.  They 
occasionally  did  us  good  service  as  buoys,  indicating  the 
mud  flats,  which  we  could  thereby  avoid,  but  the  num- 


ALONG  THE  LAKES. 


129 


ber  of  fish  we  ever  saw  taken  off  them  was  not  alaiTning. 
The  majority  of  those  caught  are  secured  by  means  of 
the  double-pronged  fish- spears,  which  were  described  on 
page  70.  I  never  observed  any  nets  in  tlie  possession 
of  the  Tahk-heesh  or  "Sticks,"  but  my  investigations  in 
tliis  respect  were  so  slight  that  I  might  easily  have  over- 
looked them.  Among  my  trading  material  to  be  used 
for  hiring  native  help,  fish-hooks  were  eagerly  sought  by 
all  of  the  Indians,  until  after  White  River  was  passed, 
at  which  point  the  Yukon  becomes  too  muddy  for  any 
kind  of  fishing  with  hook  and  line.  Lines  they  were  not 
so  eager  to  obtain,  the  common  ones  of  sinew  sufficiently 
serving  the  purpose.  No  good  bows  or  arrows  were  seen 
among  them,  their  only  weapons  being  the  stereotyped 
Hudson  Bay  (Company  flintlock  smooth-bore  musket, 
the  only  kind  of  gun,  I  believe,  throwing  a  ball  that  this 
great  trading  company  has  ever  issued  since  its  founda- 
tion. They  also  sell  a  cheap  variety  of  double-barreled 
percussion-capped  shotgun,  which  the  natives  buy,  and 
loading  them  with  ball — being  about  No.  12  or  14  guage 
— find  them  superior  to  the  muskets.  Singular  as  it  may 
appear,  these  Indians,  like  the  Eskimo  I  found  around 
the  northern  part  of  Hudson's  Bay,  prefer  the  flintlock 
to  the  percussion-cup  gun,  probably  for  the  reason  that 
the  latter  depends  on  three  articles  of  trade — caps,  pow- 
der and  lead — while  the  former  depends  on  but  two  of 
these,  and  the  chances  of  running  short  of  ammunition 
when  perhaps  at  a  distance  of  many  weeks'  journey  from 
these  supplies,  are  thereby  lessened.  These  old  muskets 
are  tolerably  good  at  sixty  to  seventy  yards,  and  even 
reasonably  dangerous  at  twice  that  distance.  In  all 
their  huntings  these  Indians  contrive  by  that  tact  pecu- 


130 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


liar  to  savages  to  get  within  this  distance  of  moose,  black 
bear  and  caribou,  and  thus  to  earn  a  pretty  fair  subsist- 
ence the  year  round,  having  for  summer  adiet  of  salmon 
with  a  few  berries  and  roots. 

The  28th  we  had  on  Lake  Marsh  a  brisk  rain  and 
thunder  shower,  lasting  from  12.45  p.  m.  to  2.15  P.  m., 
directly  overhead,  which  was,  I  believe,  the  first  thun- 
derstorm recorded  on  the  Yukon,  thunder  being  un- 
known on  the  lower  river,  according  to  all  accounts. 
Our  Camp  15  was  on  a  soft,  boggy  shore  covered  with 
reeds,  Avhere  a  tent  could  not  be  pitched  and  blankets 
could  not  be  spread.  The  raft  lay  far  out  in  the  lake,  a 
hundred  yards  from  the  shore,  across  soft  white  mud, 
through  which  one  might  sink  in  the  water  to  one's 
middle.  When  to  this  predicament  the  inevitable  mos- 
quitoes and  a  few  rain  showers  are  added,  I  judge  that 
our  plight  was  about  as  disagreeable  as  could  well  be 
imagined.  Such  features  of  the  explorer's  life,  however, 
are  seldom  dwelt  ui)on.  The  northern  shores  of  the  lake 
are  unusually  flat  and  boggy.  Our  primitive  mode  of 
navigation  suffered  also  from  the  large  banks  of  "glacier 
mud"  as  we  approached  the  lake's  outlet.  Most  of  this 
mud  was  probably  deposited  by  a  large  river,  the 
McClintock  (in  honor  of  Vice-Admiral  Sir  Leo})old 
McClintock,  R.  N.),  that  here  comes  in  from  the  north- 
east— a  river  so  large  that  we  were  in  some  doubt  as  to 
its  being  the  outlet,  until  its  current  settled  the  matter 
by  carrying  us  into  the  proper  channel.  A  very  con- 
spicuous hill,  bearing  north-east  from  Lake  Marsh,  was 
named  Michie  Mountain  after  Professor  Michie  of  West 
Point. 


CHAPTER  VT. 


A   CHAPTEH  ABOUT   HAFTINO. 


'  BNUBBINO  "  THE  UAPT. 


AKE  Marsh  gave  us 
four  days  of  variable 
sailing  on  its  waters, 
when,  on  the  29th  of 
June,  we  emerged 
from  it  and  once  more 
felt  the  exhilaration 
of  a  rapid  course  on  a 
swift  river,  an  exhila- 
ration that  was  not 
allowed  to  die  rapidly  away,  by  reason  of  the  great 
amount  of  exercise  we  had  to  go  through  in  managing 
the  raft  in  its  many  eccentric  phases  of  navigation.  On 
the  lakes,  whether  in  storm  or  still  weather,  one  man 
stationed  at  the  stern  oar  of  the  raft  had  been  sufficient, 
as  long  as  he  kept  awake,  nor  was  any  great  harm  done 
if  he  fell  asleep  in  a  quiet  breeze,  but  once  on  the  river 
an  additional  oarsman  at  the  bow  sweep  was  impera- 
tively needed,  for  at  short  turns  or  sudden  bends,  or 
when  nearing  half-sunken  bowlders  or  tangled  masses  of 
driftwood,  or  bars  of  sand,  mud  or  gravel,  or  while 
steering  clear  of  eddies  and  slack  water,  it  was  often 
necessary  to  do  some  very  lively  work  at  both  ends  of 
the  raft  in  swinging  the  ponderous  contrivance  around  to 


m 


i  • 


liiLii 


133 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


avoid  these  obstacles,  and  in  tlie  worst  cases  two  or  tliree 
other  men  assisted  the  oarsmen  in  theii  difficult  task. 
Just  how  much  strength  a  couple  of  strong  men  could 
put  on  a  steering  sweep  was  a  delicate  matter  to  gauge, 
and  too  often  in  the  most  trying  pl&,fes  our  experiments 
in  testing  the  questions  were  failures,  and  with  a  sharp 
snap  the  oar  would  part,  a  man  or  two  would  sit  down 
violently  without  stopping  to  pick  out  the  most  luxur- 
ious places,  and  the  craft  like  a  wild  animal  unshackled 
would  go  plowing  through  the  fallen  timber  that  lined 
the  banks,  or  bring  up  on  the  bar  or  bowlder  we  had 
been  working  hard  to  avoid.  We  slowly  became  practi- 
cal oar  makers,  however,  and  toward  the  latter  part  of 
the  journey  had  some  crude  but  effective  implements 
that  defied  annihilation. 

As  we  leisurely  and  lazily  crept  along  the  lakes  some- 
body would  be  driving  away  ennui  by  dressing  down 
pins  with  a  hatchet,  boring  holes  with  aii  auger  and 
driving  pins  with  an  ax,  until  by  the  time  the  lakes  were 
all  passed  I  believe  that  no  two  logs  crossed  each  other 
in  the  raft  that  were  not  securely  pinned  at  the  point  of 
Juncture  with  at  least  one  pin,  and  if  the  logs  were  large 
ones  with  two  or  three.  In  this  manner  our  vessel  was 
as  solid  as  it  was  possible  to  make  such  a  craft,  and 
would  bring  up  against  a  bowlder  with  a  shock  and 
swing  dizzily  around  in  a  six  or  seven  mile  current  with 
no  more  concern  than  if  it  were  a  slab  in  a  mill  race. 

I  believt;  I  have  made  the  remark  in  a  i)reviou8  chap- 
ter that  managing  a  raft — at  least  our  method  of  manag- 
ing a  raft — on  a  lake  was  ii  tolerably  simple  affair, 
especially  with  a  favorable  wind,  and  to  tell  the  truth, 
one  can  not  manage  it  at  all  except  with  a  favorable 


A  CHAPTER  ABOUT  RAFTING. 


133 


wind.  It  was  certainly  the  height  of  simplicity  when 
compared  w^th  its  navigation  upon  a  river,  although  at 
first  sight  one  might  perhaps  think  the  reverse  ;  at  least 
I  had  thought  so,  and  from  the  conversation  of  the  whites 
and  Indians  of  south-eastern  Alaska,  I  knew  that  their 
opinions  coincided  with  mine ;  but  I  was  at  length  com- 
])elled  to  hold  differently  from  them  in  this  matter,  as 
ill  many  others.  Especially  was  this  navigation  difficult 
on  a  swift  river  like  the  Yukon,  and  I  know  of  none 
that  can  maintain  a  flow  of  more  even  rapidity  from 
source  to  mouth  than  this  great  stream.  It  is  not  very 
hard  to  keep  a  raft  or  any  floating  object  in  the  center 
of  the  current  of  a  stream,  even  if  left  alone  at  times,  but 
the  number  of  things  which  present  themselves  from 
time  to  time  to  drag  it  out  of  this  channel  seems  marvel- 
ous. 

Old  watermen  and  rafting  lumbermen  know  that  while 
a  river  is  rising  it  is  hard  to  keep  the  (channel,  even  the 
driftwood  created  by  the  rise  clinging  to  the  shores  of 
the  streM ».  Accordingly  they  are  anxious  for  the 
moment  when  this  driftwood  begins  to  float  along  the 
main  (Mirrent  and  out  in  the  middle  of  the  stream,  for 
then  they  know  the  water  is  subsiding,  and  from  that 
l)()int  it  requires  very  little  effort  to  keep  in  the  swiftest 
current.  Should  this  drift  matter  be  equally  distributed 
over  the  running  water  it  is  inferred  that  the  river  is  at 
"a  stand-still,''  as  they  say.  An  adept  can  closely 
judge  of  the  variations  and  stage  of  water  by  tl^'s 
means. 

In  a  river  with  soft  or  earthy  banks  (and  in  going  the 
whole  length  of  the  Yukon,  over  two  thousand  miles, 
we  saw  several  varieties  of  shores),  the  swift  current,  in 


iW 


134 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


which  one  desires  to  keep  when  the  current  is  the  motive 
power,  nears  the  shores  only  at  points  or  curves,  where 
it  digs  out  the  ground  into  steep  perpendicular  banks, 
which  if  at  all  high  iiake  it  impossible  to  And  a  camp- 
ing place  for  the  night,  and  out  of  this  swift  current  the 
raft  had  to  be  rowed  to  secure  a  camp  at  evening,  while 
breaking  camp  next  morning  we  had  to  work  'it  back 
into  the  current  again.     Nothing  could  be  more  aggra- 


AMONG    THE    SWEEPERS. 


vating  than  after  leaving  this  swift  current  to  find  a 
camp,  i.,s  evening  fell,  to  see  no  possible  chance  for  such 
a  place  on  the  side  we  had  chosen  and  to  go  crawling 
along  in  slack  water  while  trees  and  brushes  swept 
rapidly  past  borne  on  the  swift  waters  we  had  quitted. 

If  the  brinks  of  a  liver  are  wooded — and  no  stream  can 
show  much  denser  growth  on  its  shores  than  the  Yukon — 
the  trees  that  are  constantly  tumbling  in  from  these  places 
that  are  being  undermined,  and  yet  hanging  on  by  their 
roots,  form  a  series  of  cJievaux  (fefrise  or  aha  f  is,  to  which 
is  given  the  backwoods  cognomen  of  "  sweepers,"  and  a 


A  CHAPTER  ABOUT  RAFTING. 


135 


iiiiiii  oil  tlie  upper  side  of  a  raft  plunging  through  tliem 
in  a  swift  current  almost  wishes  himself  a  beaver  or  a 
muskrat  so  that  he  can  dive  out  and  escape. 
Not  only  is  the  Yukon  equally  wooded 
on  its  banks  with  the  average  rivers  of 
the  world,  but  this  fringe  of  fallen 
timber  is  much  greater  in  quantity 
and  more  formidable  in  aspect 
than  any  found  in  the  temperate  fig.  1. 

2r.  w^<  s  I  think  I  can  explain  this  fact  to  the  satisfaction 
;>i  ..y  readers.  Taking  fig.  1  on  this  page  as  representing 
a  cross-se(!tion  perpendicular  to  the  trend  of  a  bank  of  a 
river  in  our  own. climate,  the  stumps  ss  representing 
trees  which  if  undermined  by  the  water  as 
far  as  c  will  generally  fall  in  along 
cd,  and  carry  away  a  few  tr< 
three  at  most,  then,  as  the 
roots  of  no  more  than  one 
such  tree  are  capable  of  hold- 
ing it  so  a!^  to  form  an  abatis 
along  th^  •  '■ 
stream  i  nC 


FIG.  2. 


;  V  "•■ 


trees  so  held  will  lean  obliquely  down 
d^[  floating  object  will  merely  brush  ahmg 
on  their  tips  \  Ivbout  receiving  serious  damage.     P^igure 
2,    above,  repre- 
sents   a   similar 
sketch  of  a  cross- 
section    on     the 
banks  of   the 

Yuko];    J  spec-  Fio.  3. 

ially  alon.  i.  i  umerous  islands,  these  banks,  as  we  saw 
them,  being  generally  from  six  to  eight  feet  above  the 
level  of  the   water.     This  is  also  about  the  depth  to 


136 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


which  the  moist  marshy  ground  freezes  solid  during  the 
intense  cold  of  the  Alaskan  winter  in  the  interior  dis- 
tricts, and  the  banks  therefore  have  the  tenu,city  of  ice 
to  support  them  ;  and  it  is  not  until  the  water  has  exca- 
vated as  far  as  c  (five  or  six  times  as  far  as  in  Figure  1), 
that  the  overhanging  mass  csd  becomes  heavy  enough  to 
break  off  the  projecting  bank  along  cd.  This  as  a  solid 
frozen  body  falls  downward  around  the  axis  c,  being  too 
heavy  for  the  water  to  sweep  a\  r  t  remains  until 
thawed  out  by  the  river  water  alreao  'out  little  above 
freezing,  by  reason  of  the  constant  influx  of  glacier 
streams  and  from  running  between  frozen  banks.  I 
have  roughly  attempted  to  show  this  process  in  Fig.  3. 
I  think  any  one  will  acknowledge  that  the  raft  R,  carried 
\yj  a  swift  current  sweeping  toward  c  is  not  in  a  very 
desirable  position.  Such  a  position  is  bad  enough  on 
any  river  which  has  but  a  single  line  of  trees  along  its 
scarp  and  trending  down  stream,  but  on  the  Yukon  it  is 
unfortunately  worse,  with  every  branch  and  twig  fero- 
ciously standing  at  "charge  bayonets,"  to  resist  any 
thing  that  floats  that  way.  In  F"ig.  3,  the  maximum  is 
depicted  just  as  the  bank  falls  or  shortly  after ;  and  it 
requires  but  a  few  days,  possibly  a  week  or  a  fortnight, 
for  all  the  outer  and  most  dangerous  looking  trees  to  be 
more  or  less  thoroughly  swept  away  by  the  swift  current, 
and  a  less  bristling  aspect  presented,  the  great  half 
frozen  mass  acting  somewhat  as  a  breakwater  to  further 
undermining  of  the  bank  for  a  long  while.  In  many 
places  along  the  river,  these  excavations  had  gone  so  far 
that  the  bank  seemed  full  of  deep  gloomy  caves ;  and  as 
we  drifted  close  by,  we  could  see,  and,  on  quiet  days 
hear,  the  dripping  from  the  thawing  surface,  c  s  (fig.  2). 


A  CHAPTER  ABOUT  RAFTING. 


137 


In  other  places  the  half  polished  surface  of  the  ice  in  the 
frozen  ground  could  be  seen  in  recent  fractures  as  late  as 
July,  or  even  August. 

Often  when  camped  in  some  desolate  spot  or  floating 
lazily  along,  having  seen  no  inhabitants  for  days,  we 
would  be  startled  by  the  sound  of  a  distant  gun-shot  on 
the  banks,  which  would  excite  our  curiosity  to  see  the 
savage  sportsman  ;  but  we  soon  came  to  trace  these  re- 
ports to  the  right  cause,  that  of  falling  banks,  although 
not  until  after  we  had  several  times  been  deceived. 
Once  or  twice  we  actually  saw  these  tremendous  cavings 
in  of  the  banks  quite  near  us,  and  more  frequently  than 
we  wanted  we  floated  almost  underneath  some  that  were 
not  far  from  the  crisis  of  their  fate,  a  fate  which  we 
thought  might  be  precipitated  by  some  accidental  collis- 
ion of  our  making.  By  far  the  most  critical  moment  was 
when  both  the  current  and  a  strong  wind  set  in  against 
one  of  these  banks.  On  such  occasions  we  were  often 
compelled  to  tie  up  to  the  bank  and  wait  for  better  times, 
or  if  the  danger  was  confined  to  a  short  stretch  we  would 
fight  it  out  until  either  the  whole  party  was  exhausted 
or  our  object  was  attained. 

Whenever  an  island  was  made  out  ahead  and  it  appeared 
to  be  near  the  course  of  our  drifting,  the  conflicting  guess- 
es we  indulged  in  as  to  which  shore  of  the  island  we  should 
skirt  would  indicate  the  difficulty  of  making  a  correct 
estimate.  It  takes  a  ^leculiarly  well  practiced  eye  to 
follow  with  certainty  the  line  of  the  current  of  the  stream 
from  th  J  bow  of  the  raft  beyond  any  obstruction  in 
sight  a  fair  distance  ahead,  and  on  more  than  one 
oc(^aaion  our  hardest  work  with  the  oars  and  poles  was 
rewarded  by  finding  ourselves  on  the  very  bar  or  flat  we 


''■•^''^'"^IIWfT- 


138 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


had  been  striving  to  avoid.  The  position  of  the  sun, 
both  vertical  and  horizontal,  its  brightness  and  the  char- 
acter of  the  clouds,  the  clearness  and  swiftness  of  the 
water,  the  nature  and  strength  of  the  wind,  however 
lightly  it  might  be  blowing,  and  a  dozen  other  circum- 
stances had  to  be  taken  into  account  in  order  to  solve 
this  apparently  simple  problem.  If  we  could  determine 
at  what  point  in  the  upper  end  of  the  island  the  current 
was  parted  upon  either  side  (and  at  any  great  distance 
tfcis  was  often  quite  as  diihcult  a  problem  as  the  other), 
one  could  often  make  a  correct  guess  by  projecting  a  tree 
directly  beyond  and  over  this  point  against  the  distant 
hills.  If  the  tree  crept  along  these  hills  to  the  right,  the 
raft  might  pass  to  the  left  of  the  island,  and  vice  versa ; 
this  would  certainly  happen  if  the  current  was  not  de- 
flected by  some  bar  or  shoal  between  the  raft  and  the 
island.  And  such  shoals  and  bars  of  gravel,  sand  and 
mild  are  very  frequent  obstruction "  in  front  of  an  island 
— at  least  it  was  so  on  the  Yukon — indeed  the  coinci- 
de no  was  too  frequent  to  be  without  significance.  These 
bars  and  shoals  were  not  merely  prolongations  from  the 
upper  point  of  the  island,  but  submerged  islands,  so  to 
speak,  just  in  front  of  them,  and  between  the  two  a 
steamboat  could  probably  pass.  Using  tall  trees  as 
guides  to  indicate  on  which  side  of  the  island  the  raft 
might  pass  was,  as  I  have  said,  not  so  easy  as  appears  at 
first  sight,  for  unless  the  tree  could  be  made  out  directly 
over  the  dividing  point  of  the  current,  all  surmises  were 
of  little  value.  The  tall  spruce  trees  on  the  right  and  left 
flanks  of  the  island  in  sight  were  always  the  most  con- 
spicuous, being  fewer  in  number,  and  more  prominent  in 
their  isolation,  than  the  dense  growth  of  the  center  of  the 


A  CHAPTER  ABOUT  RAFTING . 


139 


island,  as  it  was  seen  "end  on"  from  above.  Pepple 
were  very  prone  to  use  these  convenient  reference  marks 
in  making  their  calculations,  and  one  can  readily  perceive 
when  the  trees  were  near  and  the  island  fairly  wide,  both  of 
the  outer  trees  would  appear  to  diverge  in  approaching, 
and  according  as  one  selected  the  right  or  the  left  of  the 
two  trees,  one  would  '  tifer  that  our  course  was  to  the  left 
or  right  of  the  island.  As  one  stood  on  the  bow — as  we 
always  called  the  down-stream  end  of  the  raft,  although 
it  was  shaped  no  differently  from  the  stern — and  looked 
forward  on  the  water  flowing  along,  the  imagination 
easily  conceives  that  one  can  follow  up  from  that  position 
to  almost  any  thing  ahead  and  see  the  direction  of  the 
current  leading  straight  for  it.  Eddies  and  slack  cur- 
rents, into  which  a  raft  is  very  liable  to  swing  as  it 
rounds  a  point  with  an  abrupt  turn  in  the  aris  of  the 
current,  are  all  great  nuisances,  for  though  one  may  not 
get  into  the  very  heart  of  any  of  them,  yet  the  sum  total 
of  delay  in  a  day's  drift  is  often  considerable,  and  by  a 
little  careful  management  in  steering  the  raft  these 
troubles  may  nearly  always  be  avoided.  Of  course,  one 
is  often  called  upon  to  choose  between  these  and  other 
impediments,  more  or  less  aggravating,  so  that  one's 
attention  is  constantly  active  as  the  raft  drifts  along. 

In  a  canal-like  stream  of  uniform  width,  which  gives 
little  chance  for  eddies  or  slack  water — and  the  upper 
Yukon  has  many  long  stretches  that  answer  to  this 
description — every  thing  goes  along  smoothly  enough 
until  along  toward  evening,  when  the  party  wishes  to  go 
into  camp  while  the  river  is  tearing  along  at  four  or  five 
miles  an  hour.  I  defy  any  one  who  has  never  been 
similarly  situated,  to  have  any  adequate  conception  of 


140 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


the  way  in  which  a  ponderous  vessel  like  our  raft,  con- 
structed of  large  logs  and  loaded  with  four  or  five  tons 
of  cargo  and  crew,  will  bring  up  against  any  obstacle 
while  going  at  this  rate.  If  there  are  no  eddies  into 
which  it  can  be  rowed  or  steered  and  its  progress 
thereby  stopped  or  at  least  slackened,  it  is  very  hard 
work  indeed  to  go  into  camp,  for  should  the  raft  strike 
end  on,  a  side  log  or  two  may  be  torn  out  and  the  vessel 
transformed  by  the  shock  into  a  lozenge-shaped  affair. 
Usually,  under  these  circumstances,  we  would  bring  the 
raft  close  in  shore,  and  with  the  bow  oar  hold  its  head 


.^*^ 


well  out  into  the  stream,  while  with  the  steering  oar  the 
stern  end  would  be  thrown  against  the  bank  and  there 
held,  scraping  along  as  firmly  as  two  or  three  men  could 
do  it  (see  diagram  above^,  and  this  frictional  brake  would 
be  kept  up  steadily  until  we  slowed  do'vn  a  little,  when 
one  or  two,  or  even  half-a-dozen  persons  would  jump 
ashore  at  a  favorable  spot,  and  ivith  a  rope  complete  the 
slackening  until  it  would  warrant  our  twisting  the  rope 
around  a  tree  on  the  bank  and  a  cross  log  on  the  raft, 
when  from  both  places  the  long  rope  would  be  slowly 


A  CHAPTER  ABOUT  RAFTING. 


141 


allowed  to  pay  out  under  strong  and  increasing  friction, 
or  "snubbing"  as  logmen  call  it,  and  this  would  bring 
the  craft  to  a  standstill  in  water  so  swift  as  to  boil  up 
over  the  stern  logs,  whereupon  it  would  receive  a  series 
of  snug  lashings.  If  the  position  was  not  favorable  for 
camping  we  would  slowly  "droj)"  the  craft  down 
stream  by  means  of  the  rope  to  some  better  site,  never 
allowing  her  to  proceed  at  a  rate  of  speed  that  we  could 
not  readily  control.  If,  however,  we  were  unsuccessful 
in  making  our  chosen  camping  ground  and  had  drifted 
below  it,  there  was  not  sufficient  power  in  our  party,  nor 
even  in  the  strongest  rope  we  had,  ever  to  get  the  craft 
up  stream  in  the  average  current,  whether  by  tracking 
or  any  other  means,  to  the  intended  spot. 

Good  camping  places  were  not  to  be  had  in  every 
stretch  of  the  river,  and  worse  than  all,  they  had  to  be 
selected  a  long  way  ahead  in  order  to  be  able  to  make 
them,  with  our  slow  means  of  navigation,  from  the 
middle  of  the  broad  river  where  we  usually  were. 

Oftentimes  a  most  acceptable  i)lace  would  be  seen  just 
abreast  of  it,  having  until  then  been  concealed  by  some 
heavily  wooded  spur  or  point,  and  then  of  course  it 
would  be  too  late  to  reach  it  with  our  slow  craft,  while 
to  saunter  along  near  shore,  so  as  to  take  immediate 
advantage  of  such  a  possible  spot,  was  to  sacrifice  a  good 
deal  of  our  rapid  progress.  To  run  from  swift  into 
slacker  water  could  readily  be  accomplished  by  simply 
pointing  the  craft  in  the  direction  one  wanted  to  go,  but 
the  reverse  process  was  not  so  easy,  at  least  by  the  same 
method.  I  suppose  the  proper  way  to  manage  so  clumsy 
a  concern  as  a  raft,  would  be  by  means  of  side  oars  and 
rowing  it  end  on  (and  this  we   did  on  the  lakes  in 


142 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


making  a  cani])  or  in  gaining  the  sliore  wlien  a  head  wind 
set  in),  but  as  our  two  oars  at  bow  and  stern  weie  the 
most  convenient  for  the  greater  part  of  the  work,  we 
used  them  entirely,  always  rowing  our  bundle  of  logs 
broadside  on  to  the  point  desired,  provided  that  no  bars 
or  other  obstacles  interfered.  We  generally  kei)t  the 
bow  end  inclined  to  the  shore  that  we  were  trving  to 
reach,  a  plan  that  was  of  service,  as  I  have  shown,  in 
passing  from  swift  to  slack  water,  and  in  a  three  mile 
current  by  using  our  oars  rowing  broadside  on  we  could 
keep  at  an  angle  of  about  thirty  degrees  from  the  axis 
of  the  stream  as  we  made  shoreward  in  this  position. 
The  knowledge  of  this  fact  enabled  us  to  make  a  rough 
calculation  as  to  the  point  at  which  we  should  touch  the 
bank.  The  greater  or  less  swiftness  of  the  current  would 
of  course  vary  this  angle  and  our  calculations  ac(*ord- 
ingly. 

Our  bundles  of  effects  on  the  two  cordurov  decks  made 
quite  high  piles  fore  and  aft,  and  when  a  good  strong 
wind  was  blowing — and  Alaska  in  the  summer  is  the 
land  of  wind — we  had  by  way  of  sail  power  a  sj,read  of 
broadside  area  that  was  incapable  of  being  lowered.  More 
frequently  than  was  pleasant  ths  breeze  carried  us  along 
under  "sweepers"  or  dragged  us  over  bars  or  drove  us 
down  unwelcome  channels  of  slack  water.  In  violent 
gales  we  were  often  actually  held  against  the  bank,  all 
movement  in  advance  being  effectually  checked.  A  mild 
wind  was  always  welcome,  for  in  the  absence  of  a  breeze 
when  approaching  the  shore  the  musquitoes  made  exist- 
ence burdensome. 

During  hot  days  on  the  wide  open  river — singular  a» 
it  may  seem  so  near  the  Arctic  Circle — the  sun  would 


A  CHAPTER  ABOUT  RAFTING. 


143 


strike  down  from  oveiliead  with  a  blistering-  eifect  and  a 
bronzing  effect  from  its  reflection  in  the  dancing  waters 
that  made  one  feel  as  though  he  were  floating  on  the  Nile, 
Congo  or  Amazon,  or  any  where  except  in  the  very  shadow 
of  the  Arctic  Circle.  Roughly  improvised  tent  flies  and 
flai)s  helped  us  to  screen  ourselves  to  a  limited  extent 
from  the  troi)ical  toraient,  but  if  hung  too  high,  the 
stern  oarsman,  who  had  charge  of  the  "ship,"  could  see 
nothing  ahead  on  his  course,  and  the  curtain  would  have 
to  come  down.  No  annoyance  could  seem  more  sin- 
gular in  the  Arctic  and  sub- Arctic  zones  than  a  blister- 
ing sun  or  a  swarm  of  mosquitoes,  and  yet  I  believe 
my  greatest  discomforts  m  those  regions  came  from  these 
same  causes,  certainly  from  the  latter.  Several  times 
our  thermometer  registered  but  little  below  100°  Fahr- 
enheit in  the  shade,  and  the  weather  seemed  much 
warmer  even  than  that,  owing  to  the  bright  reflections 
that  gleamed  from  the  water  upon  our  faces. 

"  Cut  offs  "  through  channels  that  led  straight  across 
were  often  most  deceptive  affairs,  the  swifter  currents 
nearly  alwa3^s  swinging  around  the  great  bends  of  the 
river.  Especially  bad  Avas  a  peculiarly  seductive  "cut- 
off "  with  a  tempting  by  swift  current  as  you  entered  it, 
caused  by  its  flowing  over  a  shallow  bar,  whereupon  the 
current  Avould  rapidly  and  almost  immediately  deepen 
and  would  consequently  slow  down  to  a  rate  that  was 
provoking  beyond  measure,  especially  as  one  saw  one's 
self  overtaken  by  piece  after  piece  of  drift-timber  that 
by  keeping  to  the  main  channel  had  "taken  the  longest 
way  around  as  the  shortest  way  home,  "  and  beaten  us 
by  long  odds  in  the  race.  And  worse  than  all  it  was  not 
always  possible  to  avoid  getting  in  these  side  "sloughs 


144 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


of  desi)oiid/'  even  when  we  had  learned  their  tempting 
little  tricks  of  offering  us  a  swifter  current  at  the  en- 
trance, for  this  very  swiftness  produced  a  sort  of  suction 
on  the  surface  water  that  drew  in  every  thing  that 
passed  within  a  distance  of  the  width  of  its  entrance. 

Of  submerged  obstructions,  snags  were  of  little 
account,  for  the  great  2)onderous  craft  would  go  plowing 
through  and  casting  aside  some  of  the  most  formidable 
of  them.  [  doubt  very  much  if  snags  did  us  as  much 
harm  as  benefit,  for  as  they  always  indicated  shoal 
water,  and  were  easily  visible,  especially  with  glasses, 
they  often  served  us  as  beacons.  I  saw  very  few  of  the 
huge  snags  which  have  received  the  appellation  of  "saw- 
yers" on  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  and  are  so  much 
dre:.ded  by  the  navigators  of  those  waters. 

Sand,  mud  and  gravel  bars  were  by  far  the  worst 
obstruction  we  had  to  contend  with,  and  I  think  I  have 
given  them  in  the  order  of  their  general  perversity  in  raft 
navigation,  sand  being  certainly  the  worst  and  gravel 
the  slightest. 

Sand  bars  and  spits  were  particularly  aggravating,  and 
when  the  great  gridiron  of  logs  ran  up  on  one  of  them  in 
a  swift  current  there  w-as  "fun  ahead,"  to  use  a  western 
expression  of  negation.  Sometimes  the  mere  jumping 
overboard  of  all  the  crew  would  lighten  the  craft  so  that 
she  would  float  forward  a  few  yards,  and  in  lucky  instan- 
ces might  clear  the  obstruction  ;  but  this  was  not  often 
the  case,  and  those  who  made  preparations  for  hard  work 
were  seldom  disappointed.  In  a  swift  current  the  run- 
ning water  would  sweep  out  the  sand  around  the  logs  of 
the  raft  until  its  buoyancy  would  prevent  its  sinking  any 
deeper,  and  out  of  this  rut  the  great  bulky  thing  would 


md 
in 

lat 
m- 
ten 
)rk 
lin- 
of 

lild 


w 


ni 


\ 


H 


A  CHAPTER  ABOUT  RAFTING. 


147 


have  to  be  lifted  before  it  would  buJge  an  inch  in  a 
lateral  direction,  and  when  this  was  accomplished,  and, 
completely  fagged  out,  we  would  stop  to  take  a  breath 
or  two,  we  would  often  be  gratified  by  seeing  our  noble 
craft  sink  down  again,  necessitating  a  repetition  of  the 
process.  The  simplest  way  to  get  off  a  sand  bar  was  to 
find  (by  sounding  with  a  stick  or  simply  wading  around), 
the  point  nearest  to  a  deep  navigable  channel  and  then  to 
swing  the  raft,  end  for  end,  up  stream,  even  against  the 
swiftest  current  thai  might  come  boiling  over  the  upper 
logs,  until  that  hannel  was  reached.  There  was  no  more 
hai)py  moment  in  a  day's  histoiy  than  when,  after  an 
hour  or  so  had  been  spent  in  prying  the  vessel  inch  by 
inch  against  the  (Mirrent,  we  could  finally  see  the  current 
catch  it  (m  the  same  side  upon  which  we  were  working 
and  perform  the  lust  half  of  our  ta^k  in  a  few  seconds, 
wlieie  perhaps  we  had  sjoent  as  many  hours  upon  our 
port  ion  of  the  work.  At  one  bad  place,  on  the  upper 
ond  of  an  island,  we  had  to  swing  our  forty-two  foot 
corvette  around  four  times.  Our  longest  detention  by  a 
sand  bi'    was  three  hours  and  fifty  minutes. 

iNlud  bars  were  not  nearly  so  bad,  unless  the  material 
was  ol  a  clayej^  consistmcy,  wli.'U  a  little  adhesiveness 
would  be  added  to  the  other  impediments,  and  again,  :w, 
we  always  endeavored  to  keei>  in  file  swift  water  we  ;!- 
doll)  encou^iitered  a  mud  bar.  But  when  one  occurred 
UHnr  to  a  camping  phice,  it  materially  interfered  Avith  our 
wadii.g  ashore  with  our  heavy  camping  effects  on  our 
Itacks.  and  would  reduce  our  rubber  boots  to  a  deplora- 
ble looking  condition.  Elsewhere,  it  was  possible  toj^ry 
the  raft  right  through  a  mud  bank,  by  dint  of  muscle 
and  patience,  and  then  we  could  sit  down  on  the  outer 


148 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


logs  of  the  deck  and  wash  our  booi:s  in  the  water  at  lei^ 
sure  as  we  floated  along.  Our  raft  drew  from  twenty  to 
twenty-two  inches  of  water,  and  of  course  it  could  not 
ground  in  any  thing  deeper,  so  that  good  rubber  boots 
coming  up  over  the  thighs  kept  our  feet  comparatively 
dry  when  overboard  ;  but  there  were  times  when  we  were 
compelled  to  get  in  almost  to  our  middle  ;  and  when  the 
water  was  so  swift  that  it  boiled  up  over  their  tops  and 
filled  them  they  were  about  as  useless  an  article  as 
can  be  imagined,  so  that  we  went  into  all  such  places 
barefooted. 

The  best  of  all  the  bars  were  those  of  gravel,  and  the 
larger  and  coarser  the  pebbles  the  better.  When  the 
pebbles  were  well  cemented  into  a  firm  bed  by  a  binding 
of  clay  almost  as  solid  and  unyielding  as  rock,  we  could 
ask  nothing  better,  and  in  such  cases  we  always  went  to 
work  with  cheerful  prospects  of  a  speedy  release.  By 
simply  lifting  the  raft  with  pries  thesvviit  current  throws 
it  forward,  and  since  it  does  not  settle  as  in  sand,  every 
exertion  tells.  By  turning  the  raft  broadside  to  the  cur- 
rent and  prying  or  "biting "  at  each  end  of  the  " boat " 
alternately,  with  our  whole  force  of  pries,  leaving  the 
swift  water  to  throw  her  forwtird,  we  p.issed  over  gravel 
bars  on  which  I  do  not  think  the  water  was  over  ten  or 
eleven  inches  deep,  although  the  raft  drew  twice  as  much. 
One  of  the  gravel  bars  over  which  we  passed  in  this  man- 
ner was  fully  thirty  or  forty  yards  in  length. 

In  aggravated  cases  of  whatever  nature  the  load  would 
have  to  be  taken  off,  carried  on  our  backs  through  the 
water  and  placed  on  the  shore,  and  when  the  raft  was 
cleared  or  freed  from  the  obstruction  it  would  be  brought 
alongside  the  bank  at  the  very  first  favorable  spot  for 


A  CHAPTER  ABOUT  RAFTING. 


149 


reloading.  Such  cases  occurred  fully  a  score  of  times 
during  our  voyage.  When  the  raft  stranded  on  a  bar 
with  the  water  on  each  side  so  deep  that  we  could  not 
wade  ashore,  the  canoe  was  used  for ' '  lightering  the  load, ' ' 
an  extremely  slow  process  which,  fortunately,  we  were 
obliged  to  employ  only  once  on  the  whole  raft  journey, 
although  several  times  in  wading  the  water  came  up  to 
our  waists  before  we  could  get  to  shore.  In  fact,  with  a 
heavy  load  on  one's  back  or  shoulders,  it  is  evidently 
much  easier  to  wade  through  water  of  that  depth  and 
proportional  current  than  thrcugh  very  swift  water  over 
shallow  bars. 

Looking  back,  it  seems  almost  miraculous  that  a  raft 
could  make  a  voyage  of  over  thirteen  l.^!indred  miles,  the 
most  difficult  part  of  which  was  unknown,  starting  at 
the  very  head  where  the  stream  was  so  narrow  that  the 
raft  would  have  been  brought  at  a  standstill  if  it  swung 
out  of  a  straight  course  end  on  (as  it  did  in  the  \  pr 
Rapids),  and  covering  nearly  two  months  of  tl.iily 
encounters  with  snags  and  bowlders,  sticking  on  bars  and 
shooting  rapids,  and  yet  get  through  almost  unscathed. 
AVhen  I  started  to  build  this  one  on  Lake  Lindeman  I 
had  anticipated  constructing  two  or  three  of  these  primi- 
tive craft  before  I  could  exchange  to  good  and  sufficient 
native  or  civilized  transportation. 

The  raft  is  undoubtedly  the  oldest  foim  of  navigation 
extnnt,  and  undoubtedly  the  worst ;  it  is  interesting  to 
know  just  how  useful  the  raft  can  be  as  an  auxiliary  to 
geographical  exploration,  and  certainly  my  raft  journey 
wjis  long  enough  to  test  it  in  this  respect. 

The  raft,  of  course,  can  move  in  one  direction  only, 
viz. :  with  the  current,  and  therefore  its  use  must  be 


150 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


restricted  to  streams  whose  upper  waters  can  be  reached 
by  the  explorer.  The  traveler  must  be  able  to  escape  by 
the  mouth  of  the  stream  or  by  some  divergent  trail  lower 
down,  unless  his  explorations  prove  the  river  to  be  nav- 
igable for  such  craft  as  he  finds  on  its  lower  waters,  when 
he  may  use  these  for  returning.  The  building  of  a  raft 
requires  tlie  presence  of  good,  fair-sized  timber  along  the 
stream.  Tlie  river  too,  must  offer  no  falls  of  any  great 
size.  My  journey,  however,  lias  demonstrated  that  u 
well  constructed  raft  can  go  any  where,  subject  to  the 
above  restrictions,  that  abo^tcan,  at  least  such  ,x  boat  as 
is  usually  employed  by  explorers. 

I  know  of  nothing  that  can  give  an  explorer  a  better 
opportunity  to  delineate  the  topography  of  the  surround- 
ing country  with  such  instruments  as  are  commonly  used 
in  assisting  dead  reckoning,  than  is  afforded  by  float- 
ing down  a  river.  I  believe  the  steady  movement 
with  the  current  makes  "dead  reckoning"  much  more 
exact  than  with  a  boat,  where  the  rate  of  progress  is  vari- 
able, where  one  hour  is  spent  in  drifting  as  a  raft,  another 
in  rowing,  and  a  third  in  sailing  with  a  changeable  wind, 
and  where  each  mode  of  progress  is  so  abruptly  exchanged 
for  another.  Any  steady  par^e,  such  as  the  walking  of  a 
man  or  ahorse,  or  the  floating  of  a  raft  carefully  kept  in 
the  axis  of  the  current,  makes  dead  reckoning  so  exact, 
if  long  practiced,  as  often  to  astonish  the  surveyor  him- 
self, but  every  thing  depends  upon  this  steadiness  of 
motion.  The  errors  in  dead  reckoning  of  Mr.  Homan,  my 
topographer,  in  running  from  Pyramid  Harbor  in  Chil 
kat  Inlet  to  Port  Yukon,  both  carefully  determined  by 
astronomical  observations  and  over  a  thousand  miles 
apart,  was  less  than  one  per  cent.,  a  fact  which   proves 


A  CHAPTER  ABOUT  RAFTING. 


151 


that  rafting  as  a  means  of  surveying  may  be  ranked  with 
any  method  that  requires  walking  or  riding,  and  far 
exceeds  any  method  in  use  by  explorers  ascending  a 
stream,  as  witness  any  map  of  the  Yukon  River  that 
attempts  to  show  the  position  of  Fort  Yukon,  before  it 
was  astronomically  determined  by  Captain  Raymond. 
Meridia;i  observations  of  the  sun  for  latitude  are  hard  to 
obtain,  for  the  reader  already  knows  what  a  task  it  is  to 
get  a  raft  into  camp.  This  difficulty  of  course  will  vary 
with  the  size  of  the  raft,  for  one  Jis  large  as  ours  would 
not  always  be  needed  and  Ji  small  one  can  be  more 
readily  handled  in  exploration.  While  rafting,  field 
I)hotograi)liy,  now  so  much  used  by  exjilorers,  is  very 
<lifflcuk,  as  it  can  only  be  achieved  at  camping  places 
unless  the  apparatus  is  carried  ashore  in  a  canoe,  if  the 
raftsmen  have  one  ;  and  the  ease  with  which  separated 
persons  can  lose  each  other  along  a  river  full  of  islands 
makes  this  kind  of  w^ork  a  little  uncertain,  and  the  serv- 
ices of  a  good  artist  more  valuable. 

This  summary  covers  nearly  all  the  main  points  that 
are  strictly  connected  with  geographical  exploration,  in 
the  meaning  ordinarily  accepted  ;  but  on  expeditions 
where  this  exploration  is  the  main  object  there  are  often 
other  matters  of  a  scientific  nature  to  be  taken  into 
account,  such  as  the  geology,  botany,  and  zoology  of  the 
districts  traversed,  to  which  the  question  o**  geograph- 
ical distribution  is  important,  and  for  all  these  objects 
researches  by  means  of  a  raft  are  at  considerable  disad- 
vantage. 

Also  in  rafting  there  is  a  slight  tendency  to  over-esti- 
mate the  length  of  the  stream,  although  the  map  may  be 
perfectly  accurate.     In  the  figure  on  page  152,  the  sixis 


152 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


AA'  is  undoubtedly  the  accepted  line  on  which  to  esti- 
mate and  measure  the  length  of  the  stream  between  those 
two  points,  and  it  is  equally  evident  to  one  familiar  with 
the  currents  of  a  river  that  some  such  line  as  RR'  would 
represent  the  course  of  a  floating  rati  and  the  excess  of 
RR'  over  AA',  both  being  developed,  would  be  the  error 
mentioned.  In  this  figure  the  relative  curves  are  exag- 
gerated to  show  the  principle  more  clearly.  Again,  every 
ibland  and  shoal  would  materially  affect  this  somewhat 

mathematical  plan,  but  I 
think  even'  these  would 
tend  to  produce  an  over- 
estimate. 

Drifting  close  along  the 
shores  of  an  island,  and 
nearing  its  lower  termina- 
tion, we  occasionally  were 
delayed  in  a  singular  man- 
ner, unless  prompt  to 
avoid  it.  A  long,  nar- 
row island,  with  tapering 
ends,  and  lying  directly 
in  the  course  of  the  cur- 
rent, gave  us  no  trouble  ; 
but  oftentimes  these 
lower  ends  were  very  blunt,  and  the  currents  at  the 
two  sides  came  at  all  angles  with  respect  to  the 
island  and  each  other,  and  this  was  especially  true  of 
large  groupings  of  islands  situated  in  abrupt  bends  of 
the  river.  To  take  about  the  worst  case  of  this  nature 
that  we  met,  imagine  a  blunted  island  with  the  current 
at  either  side  coming  in  at  an  angle  of  about  forty-five 


A  CHAPTER  ABOUT  RAFTING. 


153 


degrees  to  the  shore  line,  or  at  right  angles  to  each 
other,  as  I  have  tried  to  show  in  figure  oh  this  page,  the 
arrows  showing  the  current.  At  some  point  below  the 
island  the  recurving  and  ex-curving  waters  neutralize 
each  other  in  a  huge  whirlpool  (W).  Between  W  and 
the  island  the  waters,  if  swift,  would  pour  back  in  strong, 
dancing  waves  like  tide-rips,  and  in  some  places  with 
such  force  as  to  cut  a  channel  (C)  into  the  island.     It  is 

evident  that  with  the 
raft  at  R,  it  is  neces- 
^i  sary  to  row  to  star- 
board as  far  as  R' 
before  W  is  reached, 
as  otherwise  it  would 


/ 


be  carried  back  against 
the  island.  We  got 
caught  in  one  violent 
whirlpool  that  turned 
the  huge  raft  around 
so  rapidly  that  I  be- 
lieve the  tender  stoi  11- 
achs  of  those  prone  to  sea-sickness  would  soon  have 
weakened  if  we  had  not  escaped  by  vigorous  efforts.  At 
great  angles  of  the  swift  water  and  broad-based  islands 
I  have  seen  the  whirlpool  when  nearly  half  a  mile  from 
the  island,  and  they  were  usually  visible  for  three  or  four 
hundred  yards  if  worth  noticing.  So  many  conditions 
were  required  for  the  creation  of  these  obstacles  that  they 
were  not  common. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE  GEaND  CA5fON  OF  THE  YUKON. 


OUAYLINO. 


WE  slowly  floated  out  of  Lake 
Marsh  it  was  known  to  us  by 
Indian  reports  that  somewhere 
not  far  ahead  on  the  course  of 
the  river  would  be  found  the 
longest  and  most  formidable 
rapid  on  the  entire  length  of  the 
great  stream.  At  these  rapids 
the  Indians  confidently  expected 
that  our  raft  would  go  to 
pieces,  and  we  were  therefore 
extremely  anxious  to  inspect 
them.  By  some  form  of  improper  interpretation,  or  in 
some  other  way,  we  got  the  idea  into  our  heads  that 
these  rapids,  "rushing,"  as  the  natives  described  them, 
"  through  a  dark  canon,"  would  be  reached  very  soon, 
that  is,  within  two  or  three  miles,  or  four  or  five  at  the 
furthest.  Accordingly  I  had  the  raft  beached  at  the  river's 
entrance,  and  undertook,  with  the  doctor,  the  task  of 
walking  on  ohead  along  the  river  bank  to  inspect  them 
before  making  any  further  forward  movement,  after 
which  one  or  both  of  us  might  return.  After  a  short 
distance  I  continued  the  journey  alone,  the  doctor  re- 
turning to  start  the  raft.     I  hoped  to  be  at  the  upper 


THE  GRAND  CANON  OF  THE  YUKON. 


15S 


end  of  the  rapids  by  the  time  she  came  in  sight  so  as  to 
fsignal  her  in  ample  time  for  her  to  reach  the  bank  from 
the  swiftest  current  in  tlie  center,  as  the  river  was  now 
five  or  six  hundred  yards  wide  in  places.  It  turned  out 
afterward  that  the  great  rapids  were  more  than  fifty 
miles  further  on. 

I  now  observed  that  this  new  stretch  of  river  much 
more  closely  resembled  some  of  the  streams  in  temperate 
climes  than  any  we  had  yet  encountered.  Its  flanking 
hillsides  of  rolling  ground  were  covered  with  spruce  and 
pine,  here  and  there  breaking  into  pleasant- looking 
grassy  prairies,  while  its  own  picturesque  valley  was 
densely  wooded  with  poplar  and  willows  of  several 
varieties.  These  latter,  in  fact,  encroached  so  closely 
upon  the  water's  edge,  and  in  such  impenetrable  con- 
fusion, that  camping  places  were  hard  to  find,  unless  a 
friendly  spur  from  the  hills,  covered  with  evergreens, 
under  which  a  little  elbow  room  might  be  had,  wedged 
its  way  down  to  the  river,  so  as  to  break  the  continuity 
of  these  willowy  barriers  to  a  night's  good  camping 
place.  The  raft's  corduroy  deck  of  pine  poles  often 
served  for  a  rough  night's  lodging  to  some  of  the  party. 

Muskrats  were  plentiful  in  this  part  of  the  river,  and 
I  could  hear  them  "plumping"  into  the  water  from  the 
banks,  every  minute  or  two,  as  I  walked  along  them  ; 
and  afterward,  in  the  quiet  evenings,  these  animals 
might  at  once  be  traced  by  the  wedge-shaped  ripijles 
they  made  on  the  surface  of  the  water  as  they  swam 
around  us. 

I  had  not  walked  more  than  two  or  three  miles, 
fighting  great  swarms  of  mosquitoes  all  the  way,  when  I 
came  to  a  peculiar  kind  of  creek  distinctive  of  this  por- 


156 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


tion  of  the  river,  and  worth  describing.  It  was  not  very 
wide,  but  altogetlier  too  wide  to  jump,  with  slopes  of 
slippery  clay,  and  so  deep  that  I  could  not  see  bottom 
nor  touch  it  with  any  pole  that  I  could  find.  These 
singular  streams  have  a  current  seemingly  as  slow  as 
that  of  a  glacier,  and  the  one  that  stopped  me — and  I 
suppose  all  the  rest — had  the  same  unvarying  canal-like 
width  for  over  half  a  mile  from  its  mouth.  Beyond  this 
distance  I  dared  not  prolong  my  rambles  to  find  a  crossing 
place  for  fear  the  raft  might  pass  me  on  the  river,  so  I 
returned  to  its  mouth  and  waited,  fighting  mosquitoes, 
for  the  raft  to  come  along,  when  the  canoe  would  i)ick 
me  up.  In  my  walks  along  the  creek  I  found  many 
moose  and  caribou  tracks,  some  of  them  looking  large 
enough  to  belong  to  prize  cattle,  but  all  of  them  w^ere 
old.  Probably  they  had  been  made  before  the  mosqui- 
toes became  so  numerous. 

The  first  traveler  along  the  river  was  one  of  our  old 
Tahk-heesh  friends,  who  came  down  the  stream  paddling 
his  " Cottonwood"  canoe  with  his  family,  a  squaw  and 
three  children,  wedged  in  the  bottom.  He  partially 
comprehended  my  situation,  and  I  tried  hard  to  make 
him  understand  by  signs  that  I  wanted  simply  to  cross 
the  canal -like  creek  in  his  canoe,  wiiile  he,  evidently 
remembering  a  number  of  trifles  he  had  received  from 
members  of  the  party  at  a  few  camps  back,  thought  it 
incumbent  upon  him  to  take  me  a  short  way  down  the 
river,  by  way  of  a  quid  pro  quo,  to  which  I  did  not 
object,  especially  after  seeing  several  more  of  those  wide 
slack- water  tributaries,  and  as  I  still  supposed  that  the 
rapids  were  but  a  short  distance  ahead,  and  that  my 
Indian  guide  expected  to  camp  near  them.    The  rain 


THE  GRAND  CANOX  OF  THE  YUKON. 


157 


was  falling  in  a  persistent  drizzle,  which,  coupled  with 
my  cramped  position  in  the  rickety  canoe,  made  me  feel 
any  thing  but  comfoi'table.  My  Indian  patron,  a  good 
iiatured  looking  old  feUow  of  about  iifty,  was  evidently 
feeling  worried  and  harassed  at  not  meeting  other 
Indians  of  his  tribe — for  he  had  previously  promised  me 
that  he  would  have  a  number  of  them  at  the  rajnds  to 
portage  my  elfects  around  it  if  my  raft  went  to  i)ieces  in 
shooting  them,  as  they  were  all  confident  it  would,  or  if 
I  determined  to  build  another  forthwith  at  a  point  below 
the  dangerous  portion  of  the  rapids — and  he  ceased  the 
not  unmusical  strokes  of  his  paddle  everj'  minute  or 
two  in  order  to  scan  with  a  keen  eye  the  river  banks  or 
the  hillsides  beyond,  or  to  listen  for  signals  in  reply  to 
the  prolonged  shouts  he  occasionally  emitted  from  his 
vigorous  lungs.  After  a  voyage  of  thr»  or  four  miles, 
he  became  discouraged,  and  diving  down  into  a  mass  of 
dirty  rags  and  strong-scented  Indian  bric-a  brae  of  all 
sorts  in  the  bottom  of  the  canoe,  he  fished  out  an  old 
brass-mounted  Hudson  Bay  Company  tiintlock  horse- 
pistol,  an  object  occasionally  found  in  the  possession  of 
a  well-to-do  Yukon  River  savage.  He  took  out  the 
bullet,  wiiich  he  did  not  desire  to  lose,  and  held  it  in  his 
teeth,  and  pointing  the  unstable  weapon  most  uncom- 
fortably close  to  my  head,  pulled  the  trigger,  although 
from  all  I  have  seen  of  these  weapons  of  desti-uction  (to 
l)0wder)  I  imagine  the  butt  end  of  the  pistol  was  the 
most  dangerous.  The  report  resounded  through  the 
hills  and  valleys  with  a  thundering  vibration,  as  if  the 
weapon  had  been  a  small  cannon,  but  awakened  no  rejjly 
of  any  kind,  and  as  it  was  getting  well  along  into  the 
evening  my  "  Stick"  friend  pointed  his  canoe  for  an  old 


158 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


camping  place  on  the  east  bank  of  the  river  (although 
the  boat  was  so  warped,  and  its  nose  so  broken  that  one 
might  almost  have  testified  to  its  pointing  in  any  other 
direction),  and  with  a  few  strokes  of  his  paddle  lie  was 
soon  on  shore.  Thereupon  I  went  into  the  simi)lest  camp 
I  had  ever  ocicupied,  for  all  that  was  done  was  to  i)ull 
an  old  piece  of  riddled  canvas  over  a  leaning  2)ole  and 
crawl  under  it  and  imagine  that  it  kept  out  the  rain, 
which  it  did  about  as  effectually  as  if  it  had  been  a  huge 
crochet  tidy.  My  companions,  however,  did  not  seem  ta 
mind  the  rain  very  much,  their  only  apparent  objection 
to  it  being  that  it  prevented  their  kindling  a  lire  with 
their  usual  apparatus  of  steel  and  damp  tinder  ;  and 
when  I  gave  them  a  couple  of  matches  they  v/ere  so  pro- 
fuse in  their  thanks  and  their  gratitude  seemed  so  genu- 
ine, that  I  gave  them  all  I  had  with  me,  probably  a 
couple  of  dozen,  when  they  overwhelmed  me  with  their 
grateful  appreciation,  until  I  was  glad  to  change  the 
subject  to  a  passing  muskrat  and  a  few  ducks  that  were 
swimming  by.  I  could  not  help  contrasting  their  beha- 
vior with  that  of  the  more  arrogant  Chilkats.  They 
seemed  much  more  like  Eskimo  in  their  rude  hospitality 
and  docility  of  nature,  although  I  doubt  if  they  equal 
them  in  personal  bravery. 

There  is  certainly  one  good  thing  about  a  rain-storm 
in  Alaska,  however,  and  that  is  the  repulsion  that  exists 
between  a  moving  drop  of  rain  and  a  comparatively  sta- 
tionary mosquito  when  the  two  come  in  contact,  and 
which  beats  down  the  latter  with  a  most  comforting 
degree  of  pertinacity.  Mosquitoes  evidently  know  how 
to  protect  themselves  from  the  pelting  rain  under  the 
broad  deciduous  leaves,  or  under  the  lee  of  trees  and 


THE  GRAND  CANON  OF  THE  YUKON. 


159 


V)r5iii('hes,  for  the  instant  it  ceases  tliey  are  tiil  ont,  ai)i)a- 
renlly  more  voracious  tlian  ever.  All  along  this  bank 
near  tlu*  Indians'  canip,  the  dense  willow  brake  crawled 
uj)  and  leaned  over  the  water,  and  I  feared  there  was  no 
canii)ing  place  to  be  found  for  my  api)roaching  party, 
until  after  walking  back  about  half  a  mile  I  espied  a 
place  where  a  little  spur  of  si)ruce-clad  hillocks  infringed 
on  the  shore.  Here  I  halted  the  raft  and  we  made  an 
uncomfortable  camj).  Fish  of  some  kind  kept  jumping 
in  the  river,  but  the  most  seductive  "tiies"  were  unre- 
warded with  a  single  bite,  although  the  weather  was  not 
of  the  kind  to  tempt  one  either  to  himt  or  lish. 

The  next  day,  the  30th  of  June,  was  but  little  better 
as  far  as  the  weather  was  concerned,  and  we  got  away 
late  from  oui"  camp,  having  overslej^t  ourselves.  Our 
Tahklieesii  J  .lend,  with  his  family,  now  preceded  us  in 
his  canoe  for  the  purpose  of  indicating  the  rapids  in 
good  season  ;  but  of  course  he  disappeared  ahead  of  us 
around  every  bend  and  island,  so  as  to  keep  us  feeling 
more  anxious  about  it.  At  one  time,  about  eight  o'clock 
in  the  evening — our  Tahkheesh  guide  out  of  sight  for  the 
last  li.ilf  hour — we  i)lainly  heard  a  dull  roaring  ahead  of 
us  a^  we  swung  around  a  high  broken  clay  bluff, 
and  were  clearly  conscious  of  the  fact  that  we  were 
shooting  forward  at  a  more  rapid  pace.  Thinking  that 
discretion  was  the  better  part  of  valor,  the  raft  was 
rapidly  swung  inshore  with  a  bump  that  almost  upset 
the  whole  crew,  and  a  prospecting  party  were  sent  down 
stream  to  walk  along  the  bank  until  they  found  out  the 
cause  of  the  sound,  a  plan  which  very  soon  revealed 
that  there  were  noisy,  shallow  rapids  extending  a  short 
distance  out  into  the  bend  of  the  river,  but  they  were 


?  \f^ 


♦      J^ 


w 


160 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


not  serious  eno'.igh  to  have  stopped  us ;  at  least  they 
would  have  been  of  no  consecxuence  if  we  had  not  landed 
in  the  lirst  j)lace,  but,  as  matters  stood,  they  were 
directly  in  front  of  our  position  on  the  shore,  and  so 
swift  was  the  current  that  we  could  not  get  out  fast 
enough  into  the  stream  with  our  two  oars  to  avoid  stick- 
ing on  the  rough  bar  of  gravel  andbovlders.  Shortly 
after  tlie  crew  had  jumped  off,  and  just  as  they  were  pre- 
paring to  pry  the  raft  around  into  the  deeper  water  of 
tlie  stream,  the  most  violent  splashing  and  floundering 
was  heard  on  the  outer  side  of  the  craft,  and  it  was  soon 
found  that  a  goodly-sized  and  beautifully-spotted  gray- 
ling had  hooked  himself  to  a  fish-line  that  someone  had 
allowed  to  trail  over  the  outer  logs  in  the  excitement  of 
attending  to  the  more  im])ortant  duties  connected  with 
the  supposed  rapids.  He  was  rapidly  taken  from  the 
hook,  and  when  the  line  was  again  thrown  over  into  thf 
ripples  another  immediately  repeated  the  operation,  and 
it  soon  became  evident  that  we  were  getting  into  the  very 
best  of  fishing  ^vate^s.  +he  first  we  had  discovered  of  that 
ch.iracter  on  the  river.  After  the  raft  was  swung  clear 
of  the  outer  bowlders  of  t  he  reef  and  had  started  once 
more  on  its  way  down  sti'eam,  several  lines,  poles  and 
flies  were  gotten  out,  and  it  was  quite  entertaining  to  see 
the  long  casts  that  were  attempted  as  w^e  ruohed  by  dis- 
tant ripph  s  near  the  curve  of  the  banks.  More  than  one 
of  these  casts,  however,  proved  successful  in  lindiuf  a 
fine  grayling.  A  jump  and  a  splash  and  a  miss,  and 
there  was  no  more  chance  at  that  ripple  for  the  same 
fish,  for  by  the  time  a  recover  and  a  cast  could  be  made 
the  raft  was  nearly  alongside  of  another  tempting 
place,  so  swift  was  the  river  and  so  numerous  the  clean 


THE  GRAND  CANON  OF  THE  YUKON. 


161 


gmvel  bars  jutting  into  it  at  eveiy  bend.  Many  a  pretty 
grayling  would  come  sailing  through  the  air  like  a  Hy- 
ing squirrel  and  unhooking  himself  en  route,  with  a 
quick  splash  would  disappear  through  the  logs  of  the 
raft,  with  no  otrier  injury  than  a  good  bump  of  his  nose 
against  the  rough  bark,  and  no  doubt  ready  to  thank  his 
stars  that  his  captors  were  not  on  land.  Passing  over 
shallow  bottoms  covered  with  white  pebbles,  espe'dnlly 
those  shoaling  down  stream  from  the  little  bars  of  which 
I  have  spoken,  a  quick  eye  could  often  detect  great 
numbers  of  fish,  evidently  grayling,  with  their  heads 
up  stream  and  propelling  their  tails  just  enough  to 
remain  over  the  same  spot  on  the  bottom,  in  the  swift 
current.  That  evening  we  camped  very  late — al)out  10 
p.  M. — having  hopes  to  the  las l  that  we  might  reach  the 
upptT  end  of  the  Grand  Canon,  Our  Stick  guide  had 
told  us  that  when  we  sav/  the  mouth  of  a  small  ; stream 
coming  in  from  the  west  and  spreading  out  in  a  mass  of 
foam  over  the  rocks  at  the  point  of  continence,  we  could 
be  sure  of  finding  the  great  canon  within  half  ^i  mile.  An 
accurate  census  of  small  creeks  answering  exactly  to 
that  description  having  been  taken,  gave  a  total  of  about 
two  dozen,  with  another  still  in  view  ahead  of  us  as  we 
camped.  Knowing  the  i^^^iicliant  of  our  fishy  friends 
for  half-submerged  gravel  bars,  our  camp  was  picked 
with  reference  to  them,  and  near  it  there  were  two  of 
such  bars  running  oat  into  the  stream.  Some  fifty  or 
sixty  grayling  were  harvested  by  the  three  lines  that 
were  kept  going  until  about  eleven  o'clock,  by  which 
time  it  was  too  dark  to  fish  with  any  comfort,  for  the 
heavy  banked  clouds  in  the  sky  brought  on  dtirkness 
much  earlier  than  usual.      Red  and  white  mixed  fiies 


1(52 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


■.m 


u 


:i:  1  : 


s  !-ii 


j'l  » 


I    Hi 


were  eagerly  si)ai)ped  by  the  voracious  and  active  creat- 
ures, and  as  the  evening  shadows  deepened,  a  resort  to 
more  white  in  the  mixture  l^ept  up  the  exhilarating  si)ort 
until  it  was  too  dark  for  the  lisherman  to  fjee  his  lly  on 
the  water.  The  grayling  caught  that  evening  seemed  to 
be  of  two  very  distinc.'t  sizes,  without  any  great  number 
of  intermediate  sizes,  the  larger  averaging  about  a  pound 
in  weight,  the  smaller  about  one-fourth  as  much.  So 
nuinei'ous  and  voracious  were  they  that  two  or  three  flies 
were  kex)t  on  one  line,  and  two  at  a  cast  were  several 
times  caught,  and  trii)lets  once. 
-*  On  the  morning  of  July  1st,  we  approached  the  great 
rapids  of  the  Grand  Cauon  of  the  Yukon.  Just  as  I  had 
expected,  our  Talikheesh  guide  in  his  cotton  wood  canoe 
was  rtofi  c.S'f,  until  we  were  within  sight  of  the  u])per  end 
of  the  canon  and  its  boiling  waters,  and  tearing  ak)ngnt 
six  or  seven  miles  an  houi",  when  we  caught  sight  of  him 
frantically  gesticidating  to  us  that  the  rapids  were  in 
sight,  which  was  ))lainly  evident,  even  to  us.  lie  prob- 
ably V'  light  that  our  pondei-ous  I'aft  was  as  nianageabl«» 
in  the  seething  current  ns  his  own  light  craft,  or  he  never 
would  have  jiUowed  us  to  get  so  near.  In  the  twinkling 
of  ;in  eye  we  got  ashore  the  first  line  that  came  to  hnnd. 
and  there  was  barely  time  to  make  both  ends  fast,  one 
on  the  raft  and  the  other  to  a  convenient  tree  on  the 
bank,  before  the  spinning  raft  came  suddenly  to  the  end 
of  her  tether  with  a  snappish  twnng  that  made  the  little 
rope  sing  like  a  musical  string.  Why  that  little  quartei-- 
incli  manilla  did  not  part  seems  a  mystery,  even  yet, — it 
was  a  mere  government  tiagstafV  lanyard  tl  at  we  had 
brouglit  along  for  packing  purposes,  etc. — but  it  held  on  as 
if  it  knew  the  importance  of  its  task,  and  with  the  swift 


&.«ii^ 


lie 


le 


-it 
lul 


o      . 


3       > 


3     H 


.(*•    = 


r     S3 


MS 

ift 


THE  GRAND  CANON  OF  THE  YUKON. 


165 


water  pouring  in  a  sheet  of  foam  over  the  stem  of  the 
shackled  raft,  she  slowly  swung  into  an  eddy  under  the 
lee  of  a  gravel  bar  where  she  was  soon  securely  fastened, 
whereupon  we  prepared  to  make  an  inspection  of  our 
chief  impediment.  A  laborious  survey  of  three  or  four 
hours'  duration,  exposed  to  heat  and  mosquitoes,  revealed 
tlint  tlie  raj^ids  were  about  live  miles  long  and  in  appear- 
ance formidable  enough  to  repel  any  one  who  might  con- 
template making  the  passage  even  in  a  good  boat,  while 
such  an  attempt  seemed  out  of  the  question  with  an  un- 
manageable raft  like  ours. 

The  Yukon  River,  which  had  previously  been  about 
three  hundred  or  three  hundred  and  fifty  yards  in  width, 
gradually  contracts  as  it  nears  the  upper  gate  of  the 
ciifion  and  at  the  point  where  the  stream  enters  it  in  a 
high  white-capped  wave  of  rolling  water,  I  do  not  be- 
lieve its  widtli  exceeds  one-tenth  of  that  distance.  The 
walls  of  the  canon  are  perpendicular  colunms  of  basalt, 
not  unlike  a  diminutive  Fingal's  cave  in  appearance,  and 
nearly  a  mile  in  length,  the  centei'  of  this  mile  stretch 
being  broken  into  a  huge  basin  of  about  twice  the  usual 
width  of  the  stream  in  the  canon,  and  whicli  is  full  of 
seething  whirlpools  and  eddies  ^vliere  nothing  but  a  fish 
could  live  for  a  minute.  On  the  western  rim  of  this 
basin  it  seems  as  though  one  might  descend  to  the 
water's  edge  with  a  little  Alpine  work.  Through  this 
narrow  chute  of  corrugated  rock  the  wild  waters  of  the 
great  river  rush  in  a  perfect  mass  of  milk-like  foam,  with 
a  reverberation  that  is  audible  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance, the  roar  being  intensified  by  the  rocky  walls  which 
Jict  like  so  many  sounding  boards.  Huge  spruce  trees 
in  somber  files  overshadow  the  dark  canon,  and  it  re- 


166 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


sembles  a  deep  black  tlioioiighfare  paved  with  the  whit- 
est of  marble.  At  the  northern  outlet  of  th>.-  canon,  the 
rushing  river  spreads  rapidly  into  its  former  width,  but 
abates  not  a  jot  of  its  swiftness,  and  flows  in  a  white  and 
shallow  sheet  over  reefs  of  bowlders  and  bars  thickly 
studded  with  intertwining  drifts  of  huge  timber,  ten 
times  more  dangerous  for  a  boat  or  raft  than  the  narrow 
canon  itself,  although  perhaps  not  so  in  appearance. 
This  state  of  things  continues  for  about  four  miles 
further,  offering  every  possible  variety  of  obstacle  in 
turn,  when  the  river  again  contracts,  hemmed  in  by  low 
basaltic  banks,  and  becomes  even  narrower  than  before. 
So  swift  is  it,  so  great  the  volume  of  water,  and  so  con- 
tracted the  channel,  that  half  its  wator  ascends  the  slop- 
ing banks,  runs  over  them  for  nearly  a  score  of  yards, 
and  then  falls  into  the  narrow  chute  below,  making  a 
veritable  horseshoe  funnel  of  boiling  cascades,  not  much 
wider  than  the  length  of  our  raft,  and  as  high  at  the  end 
as  her  mast.  Through  this  funnel  of  foam  the  waves 
ran  three  or  four  feet  high,  and  this  fact,  added  to  the 
boiling  that  often  forced  up  columns  of  water  like  small 
geysers  quite  a  considerable  distance  into  the  air,  made 
matters  very  uninviting  for  navigation  in  any  sort  of 
craft. 

Every  thing  being  in  readiness,  our  inspection  made, 
and  our  resolution  formed,  in  the  forenoon  of  the  second 
of  July,  we  prepared  to  "shoot"  the  raft  though  the 
rapids  of  the  grand  canon,  and  at  11:25  the  bow  and 
stern  lines  were  cast  loose  and  after  a  few  minutes'  hard 
work  at  shoving  the  craft  out  of  the  little  eddy  where 
she  lay,  the  poor  vessel  resisting  as  if  she  knew  al  that 
was  ahead  of  her  and  was  loth  to  go,  she  finally  swung 


THE  GRAND  CANON  OF  THE  YUKON. 


167 


clt^ar  of  the  point  and  like  a  racer  at  the  start  made 
ill  most  a  leap  forward  and  the  die  was  cast.  A  moment's 
hesitation  at  the  canon's  brink,  and  qnick  as  a  flash  the 
whirling  craft  i)lunged  into  the  foam,  and  before  twenty 
yards  were  made  liad  collided  with  the  western  wall  of 
colunmar  rock  with  a  shock  as  loud  as  a  blast,  tearing 
oif  the  inner  side  log  and  throwing  the  outer  one  far  into 
the  stream.  The  raft  swung  around  this  as  upon  a  hinge, 
just  as  if  it  had  been  a  straw  in  a  gale  of  wind,  and 
again  resumed  its  rapid  career.  In  the  whirlpool  basin 
of  the  canon  the  craft,  for  a  brief  second  or  two,  seemed 
actually  buried  out  of  sight  in  the  foam.  Had  there 
been  a  dozen  giants  on  board  they  could  have  had  no 
more  influence  in  directing  her  course  than  as  many 
spiders.  It  was  a  very  simple  matter  to  trust  the  rude 
vessel  entirely  to  fate,  and  work  out  its  own  salvation. 
I  was  most  afraid  of  the  four  miles  of  shallow  rapids 
below  after  the  canon,  but  she  only  received  a  dozen  or  a 
score  of  smart  bumps  that  started  a  log  here  and  there,  l)ut 
tore  none  from  the  structure,  and  nothing  remained  ahead 
of  her  but  the  cascades.  These  reached,  in  a  few  minutes 
the  craft  was  caught  at  the  bow  by  the  first  high  wave  in  the 
funnel-like  chute  and  lifted  into  the  air  until  it  stood 
almost  at  an  angle  of  thirty  degrees,  when  it  went  through 
the  cascades  like  a  charge  of  fixed  bayonets,  and  almost 
as  swiftly  as  a  flash  of  light,  burying  its  nose  in  the  foam 
beyond  as  it  subsided.  Those  on  board  of  the  raft  now 
got  hold  of  a  line  from  their  friends  on  shore,  and  after 
br«'aking  it  several  times  they  finally  brought  the  craft 
alongside  the  bank  and  commenced  repairing  the  dam- 
age with  a  light  heart,  for  our  greatest  obstacle  was  now 
at  our  backs. 


i 


168 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


Near  the  spot  wliere  we  camped,  just  below  the  cas- 
cades that  terminated  the  long  rajiids,  was  found  a  small 
grove  of  sapling  spruce  through  which  the  lire  had  swept 
a  year  or  two  before,  and  the  trees  were  thoroughly  sea- 
soned and  sound,  the  black  burned  bark  peeling  as  freely 
from  them  as  the  hull  of  a  chestnut,  leaving  excellent  light 
and  tough  poles  with  which  we  renewed  our  two  decks, 
our  constant  walking  over  the  old  ones  having  converted 
them  into  somewhat  unsatisfactory  places  for  promenades 
unless  one  carefully  watched  his  footsteps.  Evidences 
of  conflagration  in  the  dense  coniferous  forests  were 
everywhere  frequent,  the  tires  arising  from  the  careless- 
ness of  the  Indian  campers,  and  from  the  making  of 
signal  smokes,  and  even  it  is  said,  from  design,  with  the 
idea  of  clearing  the  district  of  moscpiitoes.  AYhile  wait- 
ing at  the  cascades  of  the  rapids  to  repair  our  raft,  our 
fishing  tackle  was  kept  busy  to  such  an  extent  that  we 
landed  between  four  and  five  hundred  fine  grayling,  a 
fishing  ground  that  excelled  any  we  afterward  found  on 
the  Yukon  River. 

Our  favorite  fishing  i)lace  was  just  below  the  cascades, 
where  a  number  of  the  disintegrating  columns  of  1  usalt 
had  fallen  in,  forming  a  talus  along  which  we  could  \vjilk 
between  the  w.'iter  and  the  wall.  A  little  beyond  the 
wall  itself  sloped  down  and  ran  close  beside  the  little 
ripples  Avhere  we  were  .ilwaj^s  sure  of  a  "rise  "  when  the 
grayling  would  bite.  This  was  nearly  always  in  thecool 
of  the  mornings  or  evenings,  or  in  the  middle  of  'the  day 
when  even  a  few  light  fleecy  clouds  floated  over  the  sun. 
Yet  there  were  times  when  they  would  cease  biting  as 
suddenly  as  if  they  were  disciplined  and  under  orders, 
and  that  without  any  apparent  reason,  returning  to  the 


THE  GRAND  CANON  OF  THE  YUKON. 


169 


bait  just  as  suddenly  and  as  mysteriously.  Light 
northern  winds  brought  line  sunny  weather,  and  with  it 
a  perfect  deluge  of  light  brown  millers  or  moths  migrat- 
ing southward,  thousands  of  which  tumbled  in  the 
waters  of  the  river  and  filled  every  eddy  with  their  float- 
ing bodies.     These  kept  the  grayling  busy  snai)ping  at 


THE  CASCADES  AT  THE  EXD  OF  THE  GREAT  RAPIDS. 

IIuiul  of  Navigation  on  the  Yukon,  180C  inik'S  from  Aphoon  mouth. 

them,  and  indicated  to  a  certain  degree  when  to  go  fishing, 
but  still  it  was  remarkable  that  our  efforts  should  be  so 
well  rewarded  when  there  were  so  many  living,  fctruggling 
bait  to  tempt  them  away  from  our  flies.  Strangest  of  all 
we  were  most  successful  when  casting  with  brown  flies. 
The  millers  caught  by  the  water  and  drifted  into  eddies 
would  not  be  touched,  and  it  was  only  when  a  solitary 
moth  came  floating  along  beating  its  wings  and  fluttering 


170 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


on  the  surface  around  the  swiftest  corners  that  a  spring 
for  it  was  at  all  certain,  and  even  then  a  brown  hackle 
dancing  around  in  the  same  jjlace  would  monopolize 
every  rise  within  the  radius  of  a  fish's  eyesight.  Our 
Tahk-heesh  friends,  who  had  been  made  useful  by  us  in 
several  ways,  such  as  carrying  effects  over  the  portage, 
helj)ing  with  poles  and  logs,  and  so  on,  were  as  much 
surprised  at  this  novel  mode  of  iishing  as  the  grayling 
themselves,  and  expressed  their  astonishment,  la  guttural 
grunts,  They  regarded  themselves  as  admitted  to  high 
favor  when  we  gave  them  a  few  of  the  flies  as  presents. 
They  ate  all  the  sjjare  grayling  we  chose  to  give  them, 
which  was  often  nearly  a  dozen  apiece,  and,  in  fact,  dur- 
ing the  three  or  four  days  we  were  together  their  subsis- 
tence was  almost  altogether  derived  from  this  source,  as 
we  had  no  provisions  to  spare  them.  The  largest  gray- 
ling we  caught  weiglied  two  pounds  and  a  quarter,  but 
we  had  the  s.ime  invariable  two  sizes  already  mentioned, 
with  here  and  there  a  slight  deviation  in  grade.  These 
grayling  were  the  most  persistent  l)iters  I  ever  saw  rise 
to  a  fly,  and  more  uncertain  than  these  uncertain  fish 
usually  are  in  grasping  for  a  bait,  for  there  were  times 
when  I  really  believe  we  got  fifty  or  sixty  rises  from  a 
single  fish  before  he  was  hooked  or  the  contest  aban- 
doned. 

The  portage  made  by  the  Indians  around  the  canon 
and  rai)ids  was  over  quite  a  high  ridge  just  the  length  of 
the  canon,  and  then  descended  abruptly  with  a  dizzy 
incline  into  a  valley  which,  after  continuing  nearly  down 
to  the  cascades,  again  ascended  a  sandy  hill  that  was 
very  difficult  to  climb.  The  hilly  part  around  the  canon 
was  pretty  thoroughly  covered  with  small  pines  and 


THE  GRAND  CANON  OF  THE  YUKON. 


171 


spruce,  and  all  along  the  portage  trail  some  miners  who 
had  been  over  it  had  cut  these  down  near  the  path  and 
felled  them  across  it,  and  Jiad  then  barked  them  on  their 
upper  sides,  forming  statitmary  skills  along  which  they 
could  drag  their  whip-sawed  boats.  Two  large  logs 
l)la(red  together  on  the  steep  declivity,  and  well  trimmed 
of  their  limbs  and  bark,  nuide  good  inclines  on  which  the 
boat  or  boats  could  be  lowered  into  the  valley  below. 
Here  they  had  floated  their  boats  by  towlines  down  to 
the  cascades,  around  whi(!h  x^oint  they  had  again  dragged 
them.  It  may  readily  be  i  uuigined  that  such  a  chapparal 
of  felled  brush  and  poles  across  our  path  did  not  improve 
the  walking  in  the  least.  It  was  a  continued  case  of 
hurdle  w^alking  the  whole  distance.  The  day  we  walked 
over  the  trail  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  canon  and  rapids 
Avas  one  of  the  hottest  and  most  insufferable  1  ever 
experienced,  and  every  time  we  sat  down  it  was  f)n]y  to 
have  "  a  regular  down-east  fog '  ■  of  mosquitoes  comelmz- 
zing  around,  and  the  steady  swaying  of  arms  and  the 
constant  slapping  of  the  face  w^as  an  exercdse  fully  as 
vigorous  as  that  of  traveling.  Our  only  safe  plan  was 
to  walk  along  brandishing  a  great  handful  of  evergreens 
from  shoulder  to  shoulder.  As  we  advanced  the  mos- 
quitoes invariably  kept  the  same  distance  ahead,  as  if 
they  had  not  the  remotest  idea  we  were  coming  toward 
them.  An  occasional  vicious  reach  forward  thi*ougli  the 
mass  with  the  evergreens  would  have  about  as  much 
effect  in  removing  them  as  it  would  in  dispersing  the 
same  amount  of  fog,  for  it  seemed  as  if  they  could  dodge 
a  streak  of  lightning.  Nothing  was  better  than  a  good 
strong  wind  in  one's  face,  and  as  one  emerged  from  the 
brush  or  timber  it  was  simply  delicious  to  feel  the  cool 


178 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  lUVKli. 


breeze  on  one*  s  jieppered  face  and  to  see  tlie  rascals  dis- 
appear. Our  backs,  however,  were  even  then  spotted 
with  them,  still  crawling  along  and  testing  every  thread 
in  one's  coat  to  see  it*  they  could  not  find  a  thin  hole 
where  they  might  bore  through.  Once  in  the  breeze,  it 
was  comi(;al  to  turn  around  slowly  and  see  their  efforts 
to  keep  under  the  lee  of  one's  hunting  shirt,  as  one  by 
one  they  lose  their  hold  and  are  wafted  away  in  the 
wind.  If  these  pests  had  been  almost  unbearable  before, 
they  now  became  simply  tiendish  while  we  were  repairing 
our  raft ;  nothing  could  be  done  unless  a  wind  was  blowing 
or  unless  we  stood  in  a  smoke  from  the  resinous  pine  or 
spruce  so  thick  that  the  eyes  remained  in  an  acute  state 
of  inflammation.  Mosquito  netting  over  the  hat  was  not 
an  infallible  remedy  and  was  greatly  in  the  way  when  at 
work. 

A  fair  wind  one  day  made  me  think  it  possible  to  take 
a  hunt  inland,  but,  to  my  disgust,  it  died  down  after  I 
had  proceeded  two  or  three  miles,  and  my  fight  back  to 
camp  with  the  mosquitoes  I  shall  always  remember  as 
one  of  the  salient  points  of  my  life.  It  seemed  as  if  there 
was  an  ujiward  rain  of  insects  from  the  grass  that  became 
a  deluge  over  marshy  tracts,  and  more  than  half  the 
ground  was  marshy.  Of  course  not  a  sign  of  any  game 
was  seen  except  a  few^  old  tracks  ;  and  the  tracks  of  an 
animal  are  about  the  only  part  of  it  that  could  exist  here 
in  the  mosquito  season,  which  lasts  from  the  time  the 
snow  is  half  off  the  ground  until  the  first  severe  frost,  a 
period  of  Mome  three  or  four  months.  During  that  time 
every  living  creature  that  can  leave  the  valleys  ascends 
the  mountains,  closely  following  the  snow  line,  and  even 
there  peace  is  not  completely  attained,  the  exposure  to 


THE  GRAND  CANON  OF  THE  YUKON. 


173 


the  winds  being  of  fur  more  benefit  than  the  coolness  clue 
to  tlie  jiltitude,  while  the  mosquitoes  are  left  undisimted 
masters  of  the  valleys,  except  for  a  few  straggling 
aninials  on  their  way  from  one  range  of  mountains  to  tlie 
other.  Had  there  been  any  game,  and  had  I  obtained 
a  fair  shot,  I  honestly  doubt  if  1  could  have  securt'd  it 
owing  to  these  pests,  not  altogether  on  ac«  ount  of  their 
ravenous  attacks  upon  my  face,  and  especially  the  eyes, 
but  for  the  reason  that  they  were  absolutely  so  dense 
that  it  was  im])ossible  to  see  clearly  through  the  mass  in 
taking  aim.  When  I  got  back  to  camp  I  was  thoroughly 
exhausted  with  my  incessant  fight  and  completely  out  of 
breath,  which  I  had  to  regain  as  best  I  could  in  a  stilling 
smoke  from  dry  resinous  pine  knots.  A  traveler  who 
had  spent  a  summer  on  the  Lower  Yukon,  where  I  did 
not  find  the  pests  so  bad  on  my  journey  as  on  the  upper 
river,  was  of  opinion  that  a  nervous  person  without  a 
mask  would  soon  be  killed  by  nervous  prostration,  unless 
he  were  to  take  refuge  in  mid-stream.  I  know  that  the 
native  dogs  are  killed  by  the  mosquitoes  under  certain 
circimistances,  and  I  heard  reports,  which  I  believe  to  be 
well  founded,  both  from  Indians  and  trustw^orthy  white 
persons,  that  the  great  brown  bear — erroneously  but 
commonly  called  the  grizzly — of  these  regions  is  at  times 
compelled  to  succumb  to  these  insects.  The  statement 
seems  almost  jjreposterous,  but  the  explanation  is  com- 
paratively simpte.  Bruin  having  exhausted  all  the  roots 
and  berries  on  one  mountain,  or  finding  them  scarce, 
thinks  he  will  cross  the  valley  to  another  range,  or  per- 
haps it  is  the  odor  of  salmon  Avashed  up  along  the  river's 
banks  that  attracts  him.  Covered  with  a  heavy  fur  on 
his  body,  his  eyes,   nose  and  ears  are  the  vulnerable 


'^*l 


ALONG  JLA.'^KA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 

poir'^s  for  mofquitoes,  iind  linre  of  course  they  con- 
grrgjite  in  the  greatest  imiul)ers.  At  last  when  he  readies 
a  swampy  stretch  they  rise  in  myriads  until  liis  fore- 
paws  are  kept  so  busy  as  he  strives  to  keej)  liis  eyes 


AlASKA    1{R< ,WX    itIMi    FIGHTINti    MOSQCITOKS. 

clear  of  them  thnt  he  caii  not  walk,  whereupon  he 
becomes  enraged,  and  beor-like,  rises  on  his  haunches  to 
fight.  It  is  now  a  mere  question  of  time  until  the  bear's 
eyes  become  so  swollen  from  innumerable  bites  as  to 
render  him  perfectly  blind,  when  he  wanders  helplessly 
about  until  he  gets  mired  in  the  marsh,  and  so  starves 
to  death. 


l>^'- 


/7r 


ClIAPTEKVIH. 


DOWX  Tin:  RIVER  TO  SELKIRK. 


evening 


about  eight 
o'clock,  while  encamped 
below  the  cascades,  we 
could  hear  dull,  heavy  (con- 
cussions occurring  at  intervals 
of  two  or  three  minutes.  The 
sountl  did  not  at  all  resemble 
that  of  distant  thunder,  and 
moreover,  the  sky  was  cloud- 
less. Earthvpiakes  were  sug- 
iN  THE  uiNK  uAPiDs.  gested,  but  the  tiieory  did  not 
seem  plausible,  and  we  were  compelled  to  attribute  it  to 
the  cascades,  which,  I  believe,  have  been  known  to  cause 
earth  tremblings  and  ana  logons  phenomena. 

[  noticed  that  a  Tahk-heesh  Indian  in  arranging  his 
head  aiid  breast  bands  for  a,  load  to  be  carried  on  his 
back,  adjusted  them  as  follows:  The  breast-band  was 
giasped  in  the  center  by  the  palm  of  the  hand,  and  when 
pulled  out  taut  if  the  elbow  of  the  packer  just  touched 
the  load, — box,  bag  or  bundle. — it  was  considered  to  be 
in  proper  condition  to  carry.  The  breast  band  adjusted, 
the  head  band  is  also  pulled  out,  and  between  the  two 
there  must  be  the  width  of  the  packer's  hand  ;  the  liead- 
baud,  uliichis  not  always  used,  being  the  longer.     I  had 


176 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GJ:EAT  RIVER. 


hitherto  U()ti(!e(l  this  inaniier  of  arjanging  the  load  when 
among  my  Chilkat  i>acker.s  ;  tlie  most  singular  feature 
of  it  heing  that  the  breast  band  passes  o^-ei*  five  ai'nis  so 
as  to  pinion  tiiem  to  the  sides,  making  them  apparently- 
useless  when  the  moKt  needed. 


M 


:;]i 


CLAY    BLUFFS   ON    THE    UPPER   YUKON. 

On  the  ntii  ol'  -luly  we  again  got  undei"  way  on  our  raft. 
For  the  tirst  few  miles,  eight  oi-  ten.  tlie  river  is  very  swift 
and  oc(;asionally  breaks  into  light  rapids,  although  I 
believe  a  powerful  light-draft  river  steamer,  such  as  are 
used  on  tlie  shallow  western  rivers,  could  easily  sur- 
mount all  the  bad.  places  we  saw  below  the  cascades  of 


V>VW;y^:<! 


DOWN  THE  lilVER  TO  SELKIRK. 


177 


the  great  rapids.  If  I  am  right  in  my  conjectures  upon 
this  i)oint,  the  Yukon  River  is  navigable  for  180(5  miles 
from  the  Aphoon  or  northernmost  mouth  of  its  delta. 

Shortly  after  noon  we  i)assed  the  mouth  of  the  Tahk- 
heen'-aorTahk  River  coming  in  from  the  west,  which  is 
about  two-thirds  the  size  of  the  Yuk<  :\.  By  following 
it  to  its  head,  where  the  Indians  say  is  a  large  lake,  the 
traveler  arrives  at  the  Chilkat  x>()rtage,  the  i-elation  of 
wiiich  with  the  Chilkoot  trail  has  already  been  noticed. 
From  this  point  on  my  Chilkat  guide,  Indianne,  was  much 
more  fanuliar  with  the  country,  having  bec^n  over  the 
Chilkat  trail  many  times,  and  over  the  Chilkoot  i)()rtage 
but  om  .'.'hen  a  small  boy.  From  the  cascades  to  the 
Tahk  Rivei,  a  distance  of  nearly  twentj'-iive  miles,  the 
banks  of  the  Yukon  are  quite  high  and  of  ten  broken  into 
{)ei'pendicular  bluffs  of  white  day,  whose  rolling  crescent- 
shaped  crowns  were  densely  covered  with  pine  and 
spi'uce.  While  the  Tahk-heen'-a  is  the  smaller  stream, 
its  bed  and  valley  apparently  determine  the  general  char- 
acteristics of  the  river  beyond  its  c(mfluence,the  high  bold 
bluffs  of  clay  just  mentioned  being  from  this  point  suc- 
ceeded bv  lower  shores  wooded  to  the  water's  edu'e. 

The  Tahk-heen'-a,  like  all  streams  not  interspersed  with 
lakes  on  its  upj)er  course,  carries  (piite  muddy  wnter, 
and  we  all  felt  a  little  uneasy  about  our  line  grayl  ing  fisher- 
ies, aforebodii  g  well  founded, for  they  diminished  with  an 
exasperating  suddenness,  our  evenings  seldom  being 
rewarded  with  more  than  two  or  three. 

The  last  of  the  rhain  of  lakes  was  reached  the  same 
day  \\\  n  1'.  M.,  and  we  were  prevented  from  taking  ad- 
vantaireofa  y-ood  wind  bv  a  three  hours'  detention  on  a 
sau(l-l):ir  tliat  stretched  alnu* -t  entirely  across  the  river's 


178 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


mouth.  This  bar  liad  a  deep  cliannel  on  eitlier  side  of  it, 
and  when  oui*  most  strenuous  efforts  completely  failed 
to  f?et  the  raft  rff,  there  was  notiung  to  be  done  but  to 
put  tile  load  ashore,  and  as  \vadin<2;  was  impossible,  the 
(;ottonwood  canoe  was  brought  into  a(!tion,  slow  as  the 
method  was.  Not  having  been  used  much  lately  its 
(!ondition  was  unknown,  and  as  soon  as  we  launched  it. 
the  water  came  pouiing  in  from  a  dozen  cracks  where  the 
gum  had  scaled  off.  One  very  vicious  looking  hole  was  sud- 
denly developed  in  the  bow  as  the  tirst  load  went  ashore, 
andfc"  Billy"  undertook  fo  overcome  this  difficulty  by 
putting  most  of  the  load  in  the  stern,  taking  his  own  i)lace 
there  so  as  to  allow  the  bow  to  stand  well  out  of  the  water. 
With  every  load  the  leak  grew  worse,  and  about  the  fourth 
or  fifth  trip  there  was  a  most  despei-ate  struggle  between 
the  canoeman  and  the  leak  to  see  which  would  conquer 
before  they  reached  the  shore,  the  result  being  a  partial 
victory  for  bofh,  the  canoe's  head  going  under  water  just 
as  it  reached  the  shore,  upon  which  there  was  a  liurried 
scramble  to  unload  it  without  damage. 

This  lake  was  called  by  the  Indians  Kluk-tas'-si  ;  and, 
as  it  was  one  of  the  very  few  pronounceabh^  names  of 
Indian  derivation  in  this  section  of  the  country,  I  re- 
tained it,  although  it  is  jiossible  that  this  may  be  the 
Lake  Labarge  of  some  books,  the  fact  that  it  is  the  first 
lake  above  the  site  of  old  Fort  Selkirk  being  the  only 
geographical  datum  in  its  fav^or,  while  all  its  other  rela- 
tions to  equal  points  of  importance  are  opposed  to  the 
theory.  In  fact,  it  had  evidently  been  mjipped  by  the 
merest  guesswork  fi'om  vague  Indian  reports. 

I  hope  I  shall  be  excused  for  again  reviving  the  subject 
of  conjectural  geography,  so  uncertain  in  its  results  and 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  TO  SELKIRK. 


179 


SO  prevalent  in  Alaskan  charts,  especiilly  those  relating 
to  tli'B  interior,  even  when  they  are  of  an  official  charac- 
ter. If  the  self-satisfaction  of  these  parlor  iiiai)-niakers 
has  been  gratified  in  following  unknown  rivers  and 
mountains  wherever  their  fancy  and  imagination  led 
them,  and  no  other  harm  resulted,  one  conversant  with 
the  fac'ts  might  dismiss  the  manifold  errors  that  occur 
in  their  charts  with  a  contemptuous  smile  at  the  method 
pursued.  But  that  harm  oi  the  most  serious  luiture  can 
result  from  these  geographical  conjectures  is  evident 
from  the  following  true  story  told  me  by  the  person,  in- 
terested. A  party  of  miners  had  crossed  the  Chilkoot 
trail  and  were  on  a  "  prospecting  tour  "  down  the  river 
and  lakes.  Discouraged  at  the  outlook  as  to  fhiding 
gold  or  silver  in  paying  quantities,  there  was  consider- 
able diversity  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  propriety  of 
any  further  advance  in  such  a  wild  unexplored  country, 
the  majority  a  Ivocating  a  return.  Among  their  number 
was  a  young  lawyer,  a  graduate  of  an  eastf'rn  college,  I 
believe,  who  had  joined  the  party  in  the  lu^pe  of  finding 
adventures  and  of  repairing  his  health,  wiiich  had  suffeivd 
from  too  close  an  application  to  his  i)rofessi<)nal  studies. 
Having  in  his  possession  an  official  government  chart 
v>  ] I ich  pretended  to  map  the  route  ovei-  which  he  had 
come  as  well  as  that  ahead  of  him,  although  he  had  re- 
ceived proof  of  its  untrustworthiness  in  the  ])ast,  he  i-e- 
solved  to  trust  it  once  more.  Numerous  Indian  villages 
and  towns  were  shown  upon  the  chart  at  convenient  in- 
tei'vals  along  the  remainder  of  the  route.  He  thought 
thf  villages  might  not  be  just  where  they  were  marked, 
but  believed  that  in  the  main  theiivnumlxM'andimsitions 
were  at  least  approximately  corr-ect.    Basing  his  expect 


m:/-- 


m 


5  .,1 


180 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


ations  on  the  help  to  be  obtained  from  these  numer- 
ous Indian  villages,  he  announced  to  the  party  his  deter- 
mination to  continue  his  travels,  whatever  might  be  the 
conclusion  to  which  the  others  should  come,  pointing  t)ut 
the  hospitality  which  they  had  received  from  the  Indians 
they  had  previously  met,  and  expressing  his  expectation 
of  meeting  many  others  as  friendly.  Whether  his  rea- 
soning intiuenced  them  or  not  I  have  forgotten,  and  it 
matters  but  littlo,  but  at  any  rate  the  i)arty  gave  up  the 
idea  of  returning  and  continued  on  drifting  down  the  river 
and  prospecting  wherever  the  conditions  seemed  favor- 
able, until  old  Fort  Selkirk  was  reached,  when  they  as- 
cended the  Pelly,  upon  the  bars  of  which  stream  the  pi'os- 
pect  of  finding  gold  was  greatest.  During  all  this  long 
journey  not  a  single  Indian  was  seen  by  the  party,  iind 
only  one  deserted  house,  with  an  occasional  peeled  spruce 
pole  nt  hmg  intervals  that  marked  the  temporary  camps 

of  the  i  jvv  wandering  natives.      Young  C took  the 

]V)kes  cf  Ills  companions  upon  his  chart  and  its  Indian 
towns  good-naturedly  enough,  and  the  map  was  nailed 
to  a  big  spruce  tree  and  used  for  a  target  for  rifle  prac- 
tice, but  he  often  spoke  to  me  in  a  far  different  strain  as 
he  recounted  the  chances  of  his  taking  the  journey  alone 
aided  solely  by  this  worthless  map.  In  fact  there  is  not 
an  official  or  government  map  of  Alaska,  that,  taken  as 
a  whole,  is  worth  the  ink  with  which  it  is  printed.  Limi- 
ted exj^lonitions  and  surveys  in  this  vast  territory,  such 
as  those  of  Captain  Raymond  on  the  Yuk«)n,  Lieutenant, 
Ray  on  the  Arctic  Coast.  Lieutenant  Stoney  on  the  Put- 
nam river,  .'iiid  nuiny  others,  are  undoubtedly  excellent, 
second  to  none  in  the  world  made  under  similar  circum- 
stances, and  i'onfined  strictly  to  the  country  actually 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  TO  SELKIRK. 


181 


traversed  by  each,  with  bcoken  line  delineations  in  snr- 
roiimling  district  indicating  conjectures;  but  as  soon  as 
these  or  such  portions  of  them  as  the  Washington  com- 
piler may  see  lit  to  take,  are  dumped  into  a  great  ma])  of 
Alaska,  they  are  so  mixed  with  conjectural  topograi)hy 
and  map  work  that  one  must  know  the  history  of 
Alaskan  exploration  abo';t  as  well  as  the  history  of  his 
own  life  to  be  able  to  discriminate  between  the  good  and 
the  worthless. 

Like  Lake  Marsh,  Kluk-tas-si  is  full  of  mudbanks 
along  its  shores  ;  its  issuing  waters  being  clear  as  a 
mountain  stream,  while  its  incoming  tributaries  are 
loaded  with  earthy  deposits.  So  full  of  these  is  Kluk- 
tas-si,  and  so  much  more  contracted  is  the  waterway 
through  them,  thiifc  we  thought  we  could  detect  a  slight 
cuirent  when  making  our  way  along  in  the  blue  wat(^r. 
This  was  especially  noticeable  when  the  wind  died  down 
to  a  (;alm.  In  spite  of  nil  this,  Kluk-tas-si  ott'eivd  fewer 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  making  landings  thnn  Ijake 
Mnrsh.  It  seemed  to  me  that  but  a  brief  geological 
periojl  must  elapse  before  these  lakes  are  filled  with 
de])()sits,  their  new  sliores  covered  with  timber,  and 
their  beds  contracted  to  the  dimensions  of  the  river. 
Such  ancient  lakes  appear  to  occur  in  tiie  course  of  the 
stream  further  on. 

We  started  at  ^even  in  t\u-  ujoruingjuid  were  occupied 
until  eight  in  rowing  and  sailing  through  the  tortuous 
channel  which  led  to  blue  water  in  the  dee])  portion  of 
the  lake.  To  keep  this  channel  readily  we  sent  the 
Indians  ahead  in  the  canoe,  who  sounded  with  their 
long  pachlles,  ami  by  signals  indicated  the  deepest  ])arts. 
Ill  spite  of  their  exertions  we  stuck  a  couple  of   times, 


182 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


and  had  to  lower  sail  and  jump  overboard.  The  wind 
kept  slowly  increasing  and  by  the  time  we  set  the  full 
spread  of  our  sail  in  bold  water,  we  were  forging  along 
at  such  a  rate  that  we  i)ut  out  a  trolling  spoon,  but  noth- 
ing was  caught,  the  huge  craft  probably  frightening 
every  thing  away.  The  wind  died  down  and  sprang  up 
again  sevei-al  times  during  the  day,  but  every  time  it 
arose  it  was  in  our  favor.  That  evening  by  the  time  we 
reached  Camp  21,  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  lake,  we 
had  scored  about  thirteen  miles,  a  very  good  reckoning 
for  lake  travel  any  time. 

The  west  bank  of  this  lake  is  very  picturesque  about 
fourteen  or  fifteen  miles  from  its  southern  entrance,  large 
towers  and  bastion-like  projections  of  red  rock  uphenv- 
ing  their  huge  flanks  upon  what  seems  to  be  a  well- 
marked  island,  but  which  is  in  realitj^  a  part  of  the 
mainland,  as  our  Indians  assured  us.  According  to  the 
same  authorities  a  river  comes  in  here  at  this  point,  hav- 
ing shores  of  the  same  formation,  and  called  by  them 
the  Red  River.  The  frequency  of  this  name  in  Ameri- 
can geographical  nomenclature  was  to  me  sufficient 
reason  for  tibandoning  it ;  and  I  gave  the  name  of  Rich- 
thofen  to  the  rocks  and  river  (the  latter,  however,  not 
having  been  seen  by  us),  after  Preiherr  von  Richthofen 
of  Leipsic,  well  known  in  geographical  science.  The 
next  evening  was  a  still  and  beautiful  one,  with  the  lake's 
surface  like  a  mirror,  and  the  reflection  of  the  red  rocks 
in  the  quiet  water  made  the  most  striking  scene  on  our 
trij) ;  two  warm  pictures  of  rosy  red  in  the  sinking  sun 
joined  base  to  base  by  a  thread  of  silver,  at  the  edge  of 
the  other  shore.  The  eastern  shores  of  the  lake  seem  to 
be  formed  of  high  rounded  hills  of  light  gray  limestone, 


DOU'iV  THE  RIVER  TO  SELKIRK 


183 


])iotni'esqiiely  striped  with  the  foliage  of  the  (hirk  ever- 
gieeii  growing  in  the  ravines.  From  tlie  hike  the  con- 
trast was  very  i)retty,  and  sliowed  a  reguljirity  tliat 
scarcely  seemed  the  work  of  nature.  I  named  them 
the  Hancock  Hills  after  General  Hancock  of  the  army. 
A  number  of  salmon-trout  were  caught  in  this  lake  (the 
first  one  was  caught  in  Lake  Nares),  the  lai'gest  of  which 
weighed  over  eight  pounds,  that  being  the  limit  of  the 
po('ket  scales  of  the  do(rtor.  Saturday  the  7th  gave  us 
the  ni.  i;  conflicting  winds,  and  although  we  were  ui)on 
the  waters  of  Kluk-tas-si,  for  twelve  liours  we  made  but 
nine  miles,  a  head  wind  driving  us  into  Camp  22. 

We  did  not  allow  the  8th  to  tempt  us  on  the  lake  so 
readily,  and  the  day  was  employed  in  taking  astronomi- 
cal observations,  arranging  our  photographic  apparatus 
and  similar  work,  until  early  afternoon.  At  1.30  p.m. 
a  favorable  breeze  from  the  south  sjirang  up,  and  by  2 
o'clock  was  raging  in  a  gale,  blowing  over  the  tent  where 
we  were  eating  our  midday  meal,  filling  the  coffee  and 
eatables  with  sand  and  gravel,  and  causing  a  general 
scampering  and  chasing  after  the  lighter  articles  of  our 
equipment,  which  took  flight  in  the  furious  wind.  Most 
exasi)erating  of  all,  it  quickly  determined  us  to  break 
camp,  and  in  less  than  half  an  hour  we  had  all  of  our 
effects  stored  on  the  vessel,  and  were  pulling  off  the 
beach,  when  just  as  our  sail  was  spread  the  wind  died 
down  to  a  zei)hyr  hardly  sufficient  to  keep  away  the 
moscpiitoes.  At  7  o'clock  the  lake  was  as  quiet  as  can 
be  imagined,  and  after  remaining  almost  motionless  for 
another  hour  we  pulled  into  the  steep  bank,  nuide  our 
beds  on  the  slanting  declivity  at  a  i)lace  where  it  was 
impossible  to  pitch  a  tent,  and  went  to  sleep  only  to  be 


184 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  UHKAr  lilVKR. 


awakened  at  night  by  wliowf^'s  of  rain  rnllin^- upon  our 
iiptiirmMl  faces.  We  congratulated  ourselves  that  we 
were  in  a  pkice  where  the  drainage  was  good. 

In  tlie  sliallow  water  near  the  shores  of  Lake  Klidc- 
tassi,  especially  wliere  a  little  bar  of  pretty  wliite  sand 
put  out  into  the  banks  of  glacier  mud,  one  could  always 
lind  innumerable  shoals  of  sjuall  graylings  not  over  an 


OUTLKT   OF    LAKE    KLCKTASSI. 

Terminal  Butte  of  the  Hancock  Hills  (on  the  right). 

in^'h  in  length,  and  our  Indians  iniiuediately  improvised 
a  mosquito  bar  into  a  fisli  net,  catching  hundreds  of  the 
little  fellows,  which  were  used  so  successfully  as  bait 
with  the  larger  iish  of  the  lake  that  we  finally  thought 
the  end  justified  tlie  means. 

Instead  of  dying  down  as  we  spread  sail  early  in  the 
morningof  theOth.  the  windactually  freshened,  upsetting 
all  our  prognostications,  and  sending  us  along  at  a  rate  that 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  TO  SELKIRK. 


185 


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allowed  us  to  eiitd"  tlio  river  early  in  tlie  forenoon,  and 
I  doubt  if  the  besiegers  of  a  fortress  ever  saw  its  ria;L,^  go 
down  with  more  satisfaetion  tlian  we  saw  tiie  rude  wall- 
tent  sail  come  down  forever,  and  left  behind  us  the  most 
tedious  and  uncertain  method  of  navigiition  an  explorer 
was  ever  called  ui)on  to  attemjjt — a  clumsy  raft  on  a 
motionless  lake,  at  the  sport  of  variable  winds.  Our 
joy  was  somewhat  dami)ened  jit  sticking  sevei'al  times  ou 
the  bars,  one  of  which  delayed  us  over  half  an  hour. 

In  all  these  rivers  just  after  emerging  from  the 
lakes  the  current  was  quite  swift,  and  so  shallow  inniaiiy 
places  as  almost  to  deserve  the  name  of  rapids.  This 
was  particularly  the  case  where  the  swift  stream  (Mitinto 
the  high  banks  that  loomed  some  forty  to  sixty  feet 
above  us  as  we  rushed  by,  a  topstratum  that  i-ested  upon 
the  stiff  yellow  clay  being  full  of  rounded  bowlders, 
wliicli,  when  undermined,  were  letdown  into  the  river's 
bed,  choking  it  partially  with  most  dangerous-looking 
obstacles. 

During  the  whole  day  we  were  passing  through  burned 
districts  of  heavy  timber  that  looked  dismal  enough, 
backed,  as  they  were,  by  dense  clouds  of  black  smoke 
rising  ahead  of  us,  showing  plainly  that  the  devastation 
was  still  going  on.  Many  of  these  sweepings  of  tire  were 
quite  old  ;  so  old,  in  fact,  that  the  dark  rotting  trunks 
had  become  mere  banks  of  brown  stretched  along  the 
ground,  the  blackened  bark  of  thestunq^s  being  the  only 
testimony  as  to  the  mannei-  of  its  destruction.  Others, 
again,  were  so  recent  tha  tlie  last  rain  had  not  yet 
beaten  the  white  ashes  frojh  their  blackened  limbs, 
while  late  that  evening  we  dashed  through  the  region  of 
smoke  and  flame  we  had  discerned  earlier  in  the  day. 


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ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


It  is  wonderful  what  great  wide  strips  of  river  these 
flanies  will  eroHH,  probably  carried  by  the  high  winds, 
when  light  btinehes  of  dry,  resinous  matter  are  in  a 
blaze.  VV^e  saw  one  instance  whicli,  however,  must  be  a 
rare  one,  of  a  blazing  tree  that  fell  into  the  water,  where 
it  immediately  found  a  hydrostatic  eiiuilibrium,  so  that 
its  upper  branc^hes  continued  on  tire,  blazing  and  smok- 
ing away  like  a  small  steam  launch.  It  might  readily 
liave  j-rossed  the  river  as  it  floated  down,  and  becoming 
entangled  in  the  dry  driftwood  of  tlie  oi)i)osite  bank, 
liave  been  the  nu<*leus  of  a  new  conflagration,  the  limits 
of  whii^h  would  have  been  determined  by  the  wind  ard 
the  nature  of  the  materisil  in  its  i)ath.  Of  course,  in  s\\v\\ 
an  intricate  wild«n-ness  of  blsick  and  brown  trunks  and 
stum])s,  any  kind  of  game  that  apjn-oat'hes  to  black  in 
col(>r,  such  as  a  moose  or  black  or  brown  bear ;  in 
fact,  any  thing  darker  than  a  snow-white  mountain- 
goat,  can  easily  avoid  tlie  most  eagle-eyed  hunter,  by 
8imj>ly  keeping  still,  since  it  coidd  scarcely  be  distin- 
guished at  any  distance  above  a  luindred  yards. 

The  western  banks  at  one  stretch  of  the  river  con- 
sisted of  high  i)recipitous  banks  oi  clay,  fringed  with 
timber  at  the  summit.  In  one  of  the  many  little  gul- 
lies that  cleft  the  top  of  the  bank  into  a  series  of  roll- 
ing crescents,  a  member  of  the  i)arty  perceived  and 
drew  oui'  attention  to  a  bi'own  stump  which  seemed  to 
have  an  unusual  resemblance  to  a  "grizzly  bear,"  to 
nse  his  expression.  The  resemblance  was  marked  by 
all  to  su<'h  an  extent  that  the  stump  was  closely 
watched,  and  when,  as  we  were  from  four  to  six  hundred 
yards  away,  the  stump  ])icked  up  its  roots  and  began  to 
Walk  down  the  slope,  there  was  a  general  scrambling 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  TO  SELKIRK. 


i&r 


around  for  guns,  giving  tlie  stump  an  intimation  that  all 
was  not  right,  and  with  one  good  look  from  a  couple  of 
knots  on  its  side,  it  disappeared  among  the  rest  of  the 
timber  before  a  shot  at  a  reascmable  distance  could  be 
iired.  Thereafter  our  guns  were  kept  in  a  more  con- 
venient [)osition  for  such  drift  timber. 

After  we  had  made  a  good  foily  mil«*s  that  day,  we 
ft'lt  perfectly  justified  in  going  into  camp  ami  about  seven 
o'clock  we  commenc^ed  lo(»king  for  one.  The  river  was 
uniformly  wide,  without  a  break  that  would  give  slack 
water  where  we  could  decrease  our  rapid  pace,  and  that 
(lay  commenced  an  experience  such  as  I  have  treated  of 
in  the  chapter  on  rafting.  Not  knowing  the  efficacy  of 
tills  method  at  the  time,  we  did  not  find  a  camp  until 
^!:l^^  but  back  of  us  lay  over  forty-five  miles  of  distance 
traversed,  which  amply  <'ompensated  us  for  the  slight 
annoyance.  Ahead  of  us  there  still  hung  dense  clouds 
of  smoke  which  seemed  as  if  tlie  whole  world  was  on 
tire  in  that  direction.  An  hour  or  so  after  camping 
(No.  24)  a  couple  of  miners  came  into  camp,  nigged  and 
hungry,  the  most  woe-begone  objects  I  ever  saw.  They 
l)elonged  to  a  party  that  numbered  nearly  a  dozen  and 
who  had  started  about  a  month  ahead  of  us.  These  two 
ha«l  left  a  third  at  caujp  about  a  mile  up  the  river  (from 
wliichpoint  they  had  seen  us  float  by),  and  were  n*turn- 
ing  to  civilizaticm  in  ordei-  to  allow  flu*  rest  of  the  party 
food  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  cimtinue  prospecting. 
The  party,  at  starting,  had  intended  to  eke  out  their 
civilized  provisions  with  large  game  from  time  to  rime, 
in  order  to  carry  them  through  the  summer.  They  were 
well  armed  and  had  several  ])ractical  hunters  with  them, 
who  had  often  carried  out  this  plan  while  prospecting  in 


188 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


what  seemed  to  be  less  favored  localities  for  game.  Their 
experience  confirmed  the  Indian  reports  that  the  caribou 
and  moose  follow  the  snow-line  as  it  retreats  up  the 
mountains  in  the  short  summer  of  this  country,  in  order 
to  avoid  the  mosciuitoes,  with  the  exception  only  of  a 
few  stragglers  here  and  there,  on  which  no  reliance  can 
be  i)laced.  It  was  certainly  a  most  formidable  under- 
taking for  these  ragged,  almost  barefooted  men  to  walk 
back  through  such  a  country  as  1  have  already  d«!- 
scribed,  with  but  a  mere  pittance  of  food  in  their  haver- 
sac^ks.  Possessing  no  reliable  nui])s,  they  were  obliged 
to  follow  the  tortuous  river,  for  fejir  of  losing  it,  sin<re  it 
was  their  only  guide  out  of  the  country.  Large  tribu- 
taries coming  in  from  the  west,  which  was  the  side  they 
had  chosen,  often  foiced  them  to  go  numy  weary  milts 
into  the  interior  before  they  <'ould  be  ci'ossed.  They 
hoped  to  find  an  Indian  canoe  by  the  time  the  lakes 
were  reached,  but  from  the  scarcity  of  these  craft  I 
doubt  if  their  lioi)es  were  ever  realized.  I  heard  after- 
ward that  they  had  suffered  considerably  on  this  return 
trip,  especially  in  crossing  through  the  P<M'i'ier  Pass,  and 
had  to  be  rescued  in  the  Dayay  Valley  by  Indians  from 
the  Haines  Mission. 

The  country  was  constantly  getting  more  open  as  we 
proceeded,  and  now  looked  like  the  rolling  hill-land  of 
old  England.  By  the  word  open,  however,  I  do  not 
mean  to  imply  the  absence  of  timber,  for  the  growth  of 
spruce  and  ])ine  on  the  hills  and  of  the  deciduous  trees 
in  the  valleys  continued  as  dense  as  ever,  and  so  re- 
mained nearly  to  the  mouth  of  the  river,  varying,  how- 
ever, in  regard  to  size  and  species. 

Upon  the  lOth,  the  current  did  not  abate  a  jot  of  its 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  TO  SELKIRK. 


188 


swiftness,  and  tilthough  we  started  tolerably  late,  yet 
when  Camp  25  was  pitched,  at  8:15  p.m.,  in  a  tliiek  grove 
of  lit^^le  poplars  (there  being  no  prospect  of  a  l)etter 
ciiinp  in  sight),  we  had  scored  5})  miles  along  the  axis  of 
the  stream,  the  best  record  for  one  day  made  on  the 
river.  About  10  o'clock,  that  morning,  we  again  passed 
through  forest  fires  that  were  raging  on  both  sides  of  the 
liver,  which  averages  at  this  i)oint  from  8(M)  to  4(M)  yards 
ill  width.  A  commendable  scarcity  of  mosquitoes  was 
ii()ti<'ed  on  this  part  of  the  river. 

Shortly  after  noon  we  passed  the  mouth  of  a  large 
river,  from  150  to  200  yards  in  width,  which  my  Chilkat 
Indians  told  me  was  called  the  Tah-heen  -a  by  them.  The 
resemlilance  of  this  name  to  that  of  the  Tahk-heen'-a 
iiiiide  me  abandon  it,  and  I  called  it  after  M.  Antoine 
d'Abbadie,  Membre  d'lnstitiit,  the  French  exi)lorer. 
Ill  regard  to  Indian  names  on  this  j)art  of  the  Yukon 
Hiver.  1  found  that  a  white  man  labors  under  one  difficulty 
not  easy  to  overcome.  The  Chilkats,  who  are,  as  it  were, 
the  self-appointed  masters  over  the  docile  and  degraded 
"Sticks,"  while  in  the  country  of  the  latter,  have  one 
set  of  names  and  the  "Sticks,''  or  Talik-heesh,  have 
another.  Oftentimes  the  name  of  a  geographical  object 
is  the  same  in  meaning,  difft'ring  only  according  to  the 
language.  More  often  the  names  are  radically  difTerent, 
:tn<l  what  is  most  perplexing  of  all,  the  Sticks  will  give 
the  same  name  as  the  Chilkats  in  the  presence  of  the 
hitter,  thus 'icknowledging  in  the  most  humble  and  abject 
wjiy  their  savage  suzerainty. 

For  some  time  before  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  D' Ab- 
badie  high  hills  liad  been  rising  on  the  eastern  sloj)e, 
until  near  this  tributary  their  character  luid  become  truly 


190 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREA  T  HIVElt. 


mountainous.  I  culled  tiM'ni  tin*  S«'m»'no\v  Mountains^ 
after  Von  Semenow,  President  of  the  Imperijil  Geo- 
grapUirjil  Society  of  Russia.  Tlir^y  extend  from  the 
D'Abbadie  River  on  the  north  to  th«;  Newberiy  River 
(after  Professor  Newberry,  of  New  York),  on  the  south. 
Between  them  and  the  Hancock  Hills  is  located  an  iso- 
lated and  conspicuous  butte  which  I  named  ufter 
M.  (,'harles  Maunoir,  of  the  Paris  Geo<?rai>liical  Society. 
A  very  similar  hill  between  the  Tahk  River  and  the 
Yukon  was  named  after  Professor  Ernst  llaeckel,  of 
Jena,  Germany.  The  mouth  of  the  D'Abbadie  marks 
an  important  point  on  the  Yukon  River,  as  bein^-  the 
place  at  which  gold  be<ifins  to  be  found  in  i)lacer  deposits. 
From  the  1)'  Abbadie  almost  to  the  very  mouth  of  the  gieat 
Y''ukon,  a  i)anful  of  "dirt"  taken  with  any  discretion 
from  almost  any  bar  or  bank,  will  when  washed  give 
several  "colors,"  to  use  a  nuner's  phrase.  The  Daly 
River  comes  in  from  the  east  souie  forty  miles  fuither 
on,  measured  along  the  stieam,  forming,  with  the  New- 
berry and  D'Abbadie,  a  singular  trio  of  almost  similar 
streams.  The  last-mention«'d  rivei*  I  have  named  after 
Chief  Justice  Daly,  of  New  York,  a  leading  patron  of 
my  Franklin  Search  expedition.  The  fre(pient  occur- 
rence of  large  tributai'ies  flowing  from  the  east  showed 
this  to  be  the  main  di'ainage  area  of  the  Upper  Yukon, 
a  ruje  to  which  the  sole  excepticm  of  the  Nordenskluld 
River(after  Banm  vonNordenskicild,  the  celebrated  Swed- 
ish explorer  of  the  Arctic),  which  <'(mies  in  from  the  west, 
fifty  miles  beyond  the  Daly,  ami  is  the  ])eer  of  any  of  the 
three  just  mentioned.  Immediately  after  passing  those 
rivers,  the  Newberry  espetiially,  the  Yukon  became  very 
much  darker  in  hue,  showing,  as  I  believe,  that  the  trib- 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  TO  SELKIRK. 


m 


iitaries  (Irsiiiifd  ji  considerable  aiiiount  of  what  might  be 
called — [»ossibly  inappropriately — "tundra"  land,  /.  <'., 
where  the  water,  saturated  with  the  dyes  extracted  from 
dead  leaves  and  mosses,  is  prevented  by  an  impervious 
substratum  of  ice  from  clarifying  itself  l)y  percolating 
through  the  soil,  and  is  carried  off  by  superficial  dniin- 


LOOKINti    HACK    AT   TIIK    KINK    KAI'IDS. 


age  directly  into  the  river-beds.  Where  we  camped  on 
the  night  of  the  '2^\\i  I  noticed  that  many  of  the  dead 
seasoned  ]H>plars  with  which  we  built  our  cami»-fire  and 
c()(>ked  our  food  had  been  killed  in  previous  winters  by 
the  hares,  that  had  ])eeled  the  bark  in  a  circle  around  the 
trunk  at  such  a  uniform  height  of  from  twenty  to  twen- 
ty-four in    les  from  the  ground,  measured  from  the  lower 


192 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RlVEli. 


edge  of  the  girdle,  that  1  eoiil.  not  hut  think  that  this 
was  uhoiit  the  average  (h«i)th  oi' the  winter  snow,  upon 
which  the  hares  stood  at  the  time.  On  the  1 1th  we 
drifted  over  iifty  miles.  Shortly  after  starting  we 
passed  the  moutli  of  the  Daly,  already  refi'rred  to,  while 
directly  ahead  was  a  noticeable  hill  named  by  the  Cliil- 
kats  Kagles'  Nest,  and  by  the  Tahk  heesh  Otter  Tail,  each 
in  their  own  language.  1  easily  saw  my  way  out  of  tin* 
dilliculty  by  changing  its  name  to  Parkman  Peak,  aft«'r 
l*rofessor  Francis  Parkman,  the  well-known  AuKM-ican 
historian. 

We  j)assedthe  moutli  of  th<^  Nordenskiuld  Hiveron  the 
afternoon  of  the  IJth,  and  the  same  day  our  Indians  told 
lis  of  a  perilous  rapid  ahead  which  the  Indians  of  the 
country  sometimes  shot  in  their  small  rafts  ;  but  they 
felt  very  anxious  in  regard  to  our  bulky  vessel  of  forty- 
two  feet  in  length,  as  the  stream  made  a  double  sharp 
bend  with  a  huge  rock  in  the  center.  We  started  late  on 
the  morning  of  the  Tith,  and  at  10  o'clock  stopped  our 
mft  on  the  eastern  bank  in  order  to  go  ahead  and  inspect 
the  rai)ids  which  we  were  about  to  shoot.  I  found  them 
to  be  a  contraction  of  the  river  bed,  into  about  one-third 
its  usual  width  of  from  four  to  six  hundred  yards,  and 
that  the  stream  was  also  impede^l  bj''  a  numbei'  of  massive 
trap  rocks,  thirty  to  forty  feet  high,  lying  directly  in  the 
channel  and  dividing  it  into  three  or  four  well  nuirked 
channels,  the  second  from  the  east,  being  the  one  ordi- 
narily used  by  the  Indians.  We  rejected  this,  however, 
on  account  of  a  sharp  turn  in  it  which  could  not  be 
avoided.  These  rapids  were  very  picturesque,  as  they 
rushed  between  the  fantastically  formed  trap  rocks  and 
high  towers,  two  of  which  were  united  by  a  slender  nat- 


X   / 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  TO  SELKIRK. 


m 


ural  bridge  of  stone,  that  spanned  a  whirlpool,  making 
the  whole  look  like  an  old  mined  stone  bridge  with  but 
one  ar(;h  that  had  withstood  the  general  demolition. 
We  essayed  the  extreme  right-hand  (eastern)  passage, 
altliough  it  was  quite  narrow  and  its  boiling  current  was 
<'overed  with  waves  ruuMing  two  and  three  feet  high,  but 
being  the  straightest  was  the  best  for  our  long  vnitt. 
Thousands  of  gulls  luid  made  the  toj*  of  these  isolated 
towers  their  breeding  pUu-es,  for  nothing  but  winged  life 
<*ould  ever  reaeh  them,  and  here,  safe  from  all  intrusion, 
they  reared  their  young.  As  we  shot  by  on  the  raft  they 
rose  in  clouds  and  almost  drowned  the  noise  of  the  roar- 
ing waters  with  their  shrill  cries.  This  extreme  right- 
hand  channel  through  which  we  snot,  could,  I  believe,  be 
ascended  by  a  light-draft  river  steamer  provided  with  a 
steam  windlass,  a  sharp  bend  in  the  river  bank  just 
before  it  is  entered  giving  a  short  and  secure  hold  for  a 
cable  rope  ;  and  if  I  am  not  too  sanguine  in  my  conject- 
ures, the  cascades  below  the  Grand  Canon  mark  the  head 
of  navigation  on  the  Yukon  River,  as  already  noted.  I 
named  this  picturesque  little  rapid  after  Dr.  Henry 
Rink,  of  Christiana,  a  well-known  authority  on  Green- 
land. After  the  Yukon  receives  the  many  large  tribu- 
taries mentioned,  it  spreads  into  quite  a  formidable 
magnitude  ;  interspersed  with  many  islands,  all  of  which 
:it  their  upper  ends,  are  so  loaded  with  great  piles  of 
driftwood,  oftentimes  fifteen  to  twenty  f«'et  high,  as  to 
make  the  vista  in  one  of  these  archipelag<>es  quite  dif- 
ferent according  as  one  looks  up  or  down  the  river,  the 
former  resembling  the  picturesque  Thousand  Isles  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  while  the  latter  reveah  only  a  dreary 
stretch  of  felled  timber,  lying  in  unpicturesque  groups, 


im 


ALO.\(i  ALASKA  S  (iUEAT  UlVh'U. 


with  tin*  lnJLclit  f;r«'«'ii  of  flu*  islniul  folia^r  iiisikiii/j^  tlu» 
(In'jiriiu'ss  more  coiispiciKMis. 

From  Ijjikr  Kliik-tas-si  uliiiost  to  old  Fort  Srlkirk  u«» 
obstTvril  siloiiu;  tli»^  strop  l>:inks  of  tli<^  riviT  a  most  <'oii- 
spiciioiis  wliito  stripHsomn  tvvoorthn'eiiiclK's  in  width. 
After  our  attention  had  been  attracted  to  this  phenome- 
non for  two  or  tliree  days,  »ve proceed edio  invesli<i;ate  it. 
It  averaged  abonttwo  or  three  feet  beh)\vtlie  surface,  and 
seemed  to  se[)arale  the  recent  aMuvial  deposits  from  the 
ojch'r  beds  of  clay  and  <lrift  beh»\v,  altiiou^ii  occasionally 
it  ai»peare(l  to  <'Ut  into  b(»th,  esi)e<'ially  the  aUuvium. 
Occasionally,  althou^di  at  v»  ry  rare  interva's,  there  were 
two  stripes  parallel  to  each  other  and  sejjarated  by  a  few 
inches  of  black  «'arth,  while  oftentimes  the  stripe  was 
plain  on  one  side  of  the  river  an<l  wholly  wanting  on  the 
other.  A  close  inspi'ctioii  showed  it  to  be  volcanic  ash, 
sufliciently  consolidated  to  have  the  consistency  of  stitf 
earth,  but  nevertheless  so  friable  that  it  could  be  reduced 
to  powder  by  the  thumb  atid  tinkers.  It  ])ossibly  r«'pre- 
sents  the  result  (  f  some  exceptionally  violent  eruji- 
tion  in  ancient  times  fnmi  one  or  more  of  the  many 
volcanic  cones,  now  })robably  extinct,  with  which  the 
whoie  southern  coast  of  Alaska  is  studded.  The  ashes 
wer«>  carried  far  and  wide  by  the  winds,  and  if  the  latter 
then,  as  now,  blew  almost  persistently  from  the  south- 
ward during  the  summer  (and  I  understand  tlie  reverse 
is  the  (^ase  in  the  winter),  we  could  reasonably  fix  the 
erni)ti(m  at  that  time  of  the  year. 

The  Yukon  River  as  it  widens  also  becomes  very  tor- 
tuous in  many  places,  and  oftentimes  a  score  of  miles 
is  traversed  alon«?  the  axis  of  the  stream  while  the  divid- 
ers on  the  maj)  hardly  8ho\y  half  a  dozen  between  the 


>.■  V 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  TO  SELKIRK. 


199 


same  points.  In  tlie  region  about  the  moutli  of  tiie  Nor- 
(lensiviold  River  a  consjucuous  l)al<l  hiitte  eouhl  be  seen 
<liiv<'tly  in  front  of  our  raft  no  less  than  seven  times,  on 
as  many  different  stretclies  of  the  rivor.  I  called  it  Tan- 
talus Hutte,  and  was  glad  enough  to  see  it  disappear 
from  sight. 

The  (hiy  we  shot  the  Rink  Rapids,  and  only  a  few  hours 
afterward,  we  also  saw  oiirlirst  moose  i)lowing  through 
the  wiHow  brush  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  stream  like  u 
liurricane  in  his  frantic  endeavors  to  esca])e.  an  inuU'r- 
tiiking  in  which  he  wasc(mii>letely  successful.  When  first 
seen  by  one  of  the  i)arty  on  the  raft,  his  great  broad  i)al- 
mated  horns  rolling  through  the  top  of  the  willow  brake, 
with  an  occasional  glimi)se  of  his  brownish  black  sides 
showing,  he  was  mistaken  for  an  Indian  running  down  a 
path  in  the  brake  andswa ying  his  arms  in  the  air  to  attract 
our  attention.  My  Winchester  express  rifle  was  near 
me.  and  as  the  ungainly  animal  came  into  fidl  sight  at  a 
j)Iace  where  a  little  creek  i)ut  into  the  stream,  u])  the 
valley  of  which  it  started,  T  had  a  fair  shot  at  about  a 
hundred  yards  ;  took  good  aim,  pulled  th"  trigger — and 
the  cai>  sna])ped, — and  1  saved  my  reputation  as  a  marks- 
man by  the  gun's  missing  fire.  This  moose  and  another 
about  four  hundred  miles  further  down  the  river  were  the 
only  two  we  saw  in  the  Yuk(m  Valley,  although  in  the 
winter  they  are  (pilte  numerous  in  some  districts,  when 
the  mosquitoes  have  ceased  their  onslaughts. 

That  same  evening — the  12th,  we  encamped  near  the 
first  Indian  village  we  had  met  on  the  rivei\  and  even  this 
was  deserted.  Tt  is  called  by  them  Kit'-ah'-gon  (mean- 
ing the])lace  between  high  hills),  and  consists  of  one  log 
house  about  eighteen  by  thirty  feet,  and  a  score  of  the 


800 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVFlt. 


brush  houses  usual  in  this  countiy ;  that  is,  three  iiinin 
poles,  one  much  longer  than  the  rest,  Jind  serving  as  a 
ridge  pole  on  which  to  pile  evergreen  biush  to  com- 
I)lete  the  house.  This  brush  is  soinetinu's  rei>liiced  by 
the  most  thoroughly  ventilated  reindeer  oi-  moose  skin, 
and  in  rare  cases  by  an  old  piece  of  canvas.  Sucii  are 
the  almost  constjint  habitationsof  these  abject  creatures. 
When  I  tirst  suvv  these  rude  brush  houses,  thrown 
together  without  regard  to  order  or  method,  I  tliouglit 
they  were  scaffoldings  or  trellis  work  on  which  the 
Indians,  who  lived  in  the  log  house,  used  to  dry  the 
sjilmon  caught  by  them  during  the  sujnmer,  but  u  y  guide, 
Indianne,  soon  explained  that  theory  jiway.  In  the 
spring  Kit'-ah'-gon  is  deserted  by  its  Indian  inmates,  who 
then  ascend  the  river  with  loads  so  light  that  they  may 
be  carried  on  the  back.  By  the  time  winter  api)roaches 
they  have  worked  so  far  away,  accumulating  the  scanty 
stores  of  saluion,  moose,  black  bear,  and  caribou,  on 
which  they  are  to  subsist,  that  they  build  a  light  lal't 
from  the  driftwood  strewn  along  banks  of  the  river,  and 
float  toward  home,  where  they  live  in  squalor  through- 
out the  winter.  These  rafts  are  almost  their  sole  means 
of  navigation  from  the  (Irand  Canon  to  old  Fort  Selkirk, 
and  the  triangular  brush  houses  almost  their  only 
abodes  ;  and  all  this  in  a  country  teeming  with  wood  fit 
for  log-houses,  and  affording  plenty  of  birch  bark  from 
which  can  be  made  the  finest  of  canoes.  Kit'-ah-gon  is  in 
a  beautiful  large  valley,  as  its  Indian  name  would  imjtly 
(I  named  it  Yon  Wilczek  Valley,  after  Graf  v<m  Wflczek 
of  Vienna),  and  I  was  suri)rised  to  see  it  drained  by  so 
small  a  stream  as  the  one,  but  ten  or  twenty  feet  wide, 
which  empties  itself  at  the  valley's  mouth.  Its  proximity 


P    O 


H 


!.  ^ 

S  c 

N  '• 

•r  TV 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  TO  SELKIRK. 


203 


to  the  Pelly,  twenty  miles  further  on,  forbids  its  drain- 
ing a  great  area,  yet  its  valley  is  much  the  more  con- 
spicuous of  the  two.  Photographs  of  this  and  adjacent 
s(;enes  on  the  river  were  secured  by  Mr.  Homan  before 
departing,  and  a  rough  "prospect"  in  the  high  bank 
near  the  river  showed  "color"  enough  to  encourage  the 
hope  of  some  enthusiasti(^  miner  in  regard  to  finding 
something  more  attractive.  L(joking  back  up  the  Yukon  a 
most  prominent  landmark  is  found  in  a  bold  bluff  that 
will  always  be  a  conspicuous  point  on  the  river,  and 
which  is  shown  on  page  10:J.  I  named  this  bluff  after 
General  Charles  G.  Loring,  of  the  Boston  Museum  of  Fine 
Arts. 

From  Von  Wilczek  valley  to  old  Fort  Selkirk  is  but  a 
little  over  twenty  miles  ;  and  the  river  is  so  full  of  islands 
in  many  places  that  for  long  streti^ies  we  could  hardly 
see  both  banks  at  a  time,  while  it  was  nothing  unusual 
to  have  both  out  of  sight  at  points  where  the  islands 
were  most  numerous.  This  cluster  of  islands  (named 
after  Colonel  IngersoU,  of  Washington),  is,  I  think,  situ- 
pted  in  the  bed  of  one  of  the  ancient  lakes  of  which  I 
have  spoken,  although  the  opinion  of  a  professional 
geologist  would  be  needed  to  settle  such  a  matter. 

*  '^  3  p.  M.  we  reached  the  site  of  old  Fort  Selkirk. 
All  our  maps,  some  half  a  dozen  in  number,  excejjt  one, 
had  placed  the  site  of  Selkirk  at  the  junction  of  the 
Pelly  and  Yukon  between  the  two,  the  single  exception 
noted  placing  it  on  tlie  north  bank  of  the  Pelly 
where  the  streams  unite.  Noticing  this  discrepancy  I 
asked  Indianne  for  an  explanaticm,  and  he  told  me  that 
neither  was  correct,  but  that  the  chimneys  of  the  old 
ruins  would  be  found  on  the  :jouth  side  of  the  river  about 


i. 


204 


ALONd  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


a  mile  below  tln'  junction,  and  1  found  liins  c'orrect,  the 
chimneys  bein^-  visibh'  fully  a  mile  before  we  reached 
them.  Here  we  wei<'  on  hind  familial'  to  tlie  f  jotfsteps  of 
white  men  who  had  made  maps  and  charts,  that  rough 
and  rude  though  they  weie,  were  still  entitled  toresjject, 
and  accordingly  at  this  point  I  considered  that  my  ex- 
plorations had  ceased,  although  my  surveys  were  con- 
tinued to  the  mouth  of  the  river;  making  the  distinction 
that  the  tirst  survey  only  is  an  exploration,  a  distinc- 
tion whi(!h  I  believe  israi)idlyc(miing  into  vogue.  Alto- 
gether on  the  Yukon  River,  this  far,  there  liad  been  taken 
thirty-four  astrononncal  obseivations,  four  hundred  and 
twenty-five  with  the  prismatic  comi)ass,  and  two  for  vari- 
ation of  compass.  I  have  no  doubt  that  these  are  suffi- 
ciently accurate  at  least  for  all  practical  purposes  of 
geographical  exi)loi'ation  in  this  country,  until  more  ex- 
act surveys  are  demanded  by  the  opening  of  some  indus- 
try or  commerce,  should  that  time  ever  come.  The  total 
length  of  this  i)ortion  of  the  river  ,)  ist  traversed  from 
Haines  Mission  to  Selkirk  was  five  hundred  and  thirty- 
nine  miles  ;  the  total  length  of  the  raft  journey  from  its 
commencement  at  the  camp  on  Lake  Lindeman  being 
four  hundred  and  eighty-seven  miles  ;  while  we  had 
sailed  and  "tracked"  and  rowed  across  seven  lakes  for 
a  distance  aggregating  one  hundred  and  thirty  four 
miles. 


I 

er 
I 


=■    y 


"      -i 


7 


^ 


ai 


7-^7 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THROUGH  THE  UPPEU  KAMPARTS. 


T  the  site  of  old  Fort  Selkirk 
conimencej  the  Upper  Ram- 
parts of  the  Yukon,  or  where 
tluit  mighty  stream  cuts 
through  the  terminal  spurs  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  a  dis- 
tance of  nearly  four  hundred 
miles,  the  first  hundred  of 
which,  terminating  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Stewart  River,  are 
almost  equal  to  the  Yosemite  or  Yellowstone  in  stupen- 
dous grandeur. 

I  was  very  anxious  to  determine  beyond  all  reasonable 
doubt  the  relative  sizes  of  the  two  rivers  whose  wr  rs 
unite  just  above  old  Fort  Selkirk,  as  upon  this  detemii- 
nation  rested  the  important  question  whether  the  Pelly 
or  the  Lewis  River  of  the  old  Hudson  Bay  traders,  who 
had  roughly  explored  the  former,  ought  to  be  called  the 
Yukon  proper  ;  and  in  order  to  settle  this  point  I  was 
fully  prepared  and  deternnned  to  make  exact  measure- 
ments, soundings,  rate  of  current  and  any  other  data 
that  might  be  necessary.  This  information,  however,  was 
unnecessary  except  in  a  rough  form,  as  the  preponder- 
ance of  the  old  Lewis  River  was  too  evident  to  the  most 
casual  inspection  to  require  any  exactness  to  confirm  it. 


I 


-'■-^^^i, 


208 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


The  ratio  of  their  respective  width  is  about  five  to  three, 
with  about  tlie  ratio  of  five  to  four  in  depth  ;  the  latter, 
however,  being  a  very  rough  approximation  ;  the  Lewis 
River  being  superior  in  both,  and  for  this  reason  I  aban- 
doned the  latter  name,  and  it  ai>pears  on  the  map  as  the 
Yukon  to  Crater  Lake  at  its  head. 

At  old  Fort  Selkirk  nothing  but  the  chimneys,  three 
in  number — two  of  them  quite  conspicuous  at  some  dis- 
tance— are  left  standing,  the  blackened  embers  scattered 
around  still  attesting  the  manner  of  its  fate.  From  the 
careful  and  substantial  manner  in  which  the  rubble  stone 
chimneys  were  constructed,  this  Hudson  Bay  Company 
post  was  evidently  intended  to  be  permanent,  and  from 
the  complete  destruction  of  all  the  wood  work,  the  Chil- 
kat  Indians,  its  destroyers,  evidently  intended  that  its 
effacement  should  be  complete.  The  fate  of  this  post  has 
been  alluded  to  in  an  earlier  part  of  the  narrative.  Here 
we  remained  two  or  three  days,  making  an  astronomical 
determinaiion  of  position,  the  mean  of  our  results 
being  latitude  62°  45'  46"  north,  longitude  137°  22'  45' 
west  from  Greenwich. 

No  meteorological  observations  were  taken  thus  far  on 
the  river,  the  party  not  being  furnished  with  a  complete 
set  of  instruments,  and  our  rai)id  passage  through  a  vast 
tract  of  territory  making  the  usefulness  to  science 
highly  problematical.  The  nearest  point  to  the 
Upper  Yukon  at  which  regular  observations  of  this 
character  are  recorded  is  the  Chilkat  salmon-cannery 
of  the  North-west  Trading  Company,  on  Chilkat 
Inlet.  The  two  regions  are  separated  by  the  Kotusk 
Mountains,  a  circumstance  which  makes  meteorologi- 
cal inferences  very  unreliable.     Climatology  is  better 


H 

cr 
tt 

♦D     „ 

O 
O 

^. 

I— 

C- 

M 

H 
O 


3 


^     H 

E      IT 
to 

^    H 

to 

D 


a 


IT 
fl> 

O 
t3 


r 

r 

W 
so 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


211 


represented,  however,  in  regard  to  the  subject  of 
botany.  Quite  a  number  of  botanical  specimens  were 
collected  on  the  Upper  Yukon,  and  have  since  been 
placed  in  the  able  hands  of  Professor  Watson,  curator  of 
the  Harvard  herbarium,  for  analysis.  While  only  a 
partial  and  crude  collection  made  by  an  amateur,  it  has 
thrown  some  little  light  on  the  general  character  of  the 
flora,  as  limited  to  the  river  bed,  which  we  seldom 
quitted  in  the  discharge  of  our  more  important  duties 
connected  with  the  main  object  of  the  expedition.  Pro- 
fessor Watson's  report  on  this  small  collection  will  be 
found  in  the  Appendix. 

The  extent  of  the  Alaskan  expedition  of  1883  was  so  great 
that  I  deemed  it  best  to  divide  the  map  of  its  route  into  con- 
venient sections  ;  and  the  three  subdivisions,  the  second 
of  which  this  chapter  commences,  were  made  wholly  with 
reference  to  my  own  travels.  It  is  therefore  not  intended 
in  any  other  way  as  a  geographical  division  of  this  great 
river,  although  it  might  not  be  altogether  unavailable  or 
inappropriate  for  such  a  purpose.  The  Middle  Yukon, 
as  we  called  it  on  our  expedition,  extends  from  the  site  of 
Old  Fort  Selkirk  to  old  Fort  Yukon,  at  the  great  Arctic 
bend  of  the  Yukon,  as  it  is  sometimes  and  very  appropri- 
ately termed — a  part  of  the  stream  which  we  know  approx- 
imately from  the  rough  maps  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Compa- 
ny's traders,  who  formerly  trafficked  along  these 
waters,  and  from  information  derived  from  pioneers  of 
the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  and  others. 
This  part  of  the  river,  nearly  five  hundred  miles  in 
length,  had,  therefore,  already  been  explored ;  and  to 
my  expedition  fell  the  lot  of  being  the  first  to  give  it  a 
survey,  which  though  far  from  perfection,  is  the  first 


I 


212 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


worthy  of  the  name,  and  is,  I  believe,  like  that  of  the 
Upper  Yukon,  sufficient  to  answer  all  purposes  until 
such  tine  as  commerce  may  be  established  on  the  river 
subservient  to  the  industries,  either  of  mining  or  of  fish- 
ing, that  may  hereafter  spring  up  along  its  course. 

I  have  just  spoken  of  the  comparative  sizes  of  the 
Pelly  and  Lewis  Rivers,  as  showing  the  latter  to  be 
undoubtedly  the  Yukon  proper ;  and  the  view  on  page 
209,  taken  looking  into  the  mouth  of  the  Pelly  from  an 
island  at  the  junction  of  the  two  streams,  as  well  as  that 
on  page  213,  looking  back  up  the  Yukon  (old  Lewis 
River),  from  the  site  of  old  Selkirk,  shows  the  evident 
preponderance  of  the  latter,  although  in  the  case  of 
the  Felly  but  one  of  its  mouths,  the  lower  and 
larger  of  the  two  that  encircle  the  island,  can  be 
seen  distinctly. 

The^bars  at  the  mouth  of  the  IMl^^are  a  little  richer 
in  placer  gold  "color"  than  any  for  a  cons:  ^prable  dis- 
tance on  either  side  along  the  Yukon,  creating  the 
reasonable  inference  that  the  mineral  has  been  carried 
down  the foimer  stream,  an  inference  which  is  strength- 
ened by  the  reports  that  gold  in  paying  quantities  has 
been  discovered  on  the  Pelly,  and  is  now  being  worked 
successfully,  although  upon  a  somewhat  limited  scale. 
Even  the  high,  flat  plateau  on  which  old  Fort  Selkirk 
was  built  is  a  bed  of  fine  gravel  that  glistens  with  grains 
of  gold  in  the  miner's  pan,  and  might  possibly  "pay" 
in  more  favorable  climes,  where  the  ground  is  not  frozen 
the  greater  part  of  the  year.  Little  did  the  old  traders 
of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  imagine  that  their  house 
was  built  on  such  an  auriferous  soil,  and  possibly  little 
did  they  care,  as  in  this  rich  fur  district  they  possessed 


mm 


« 


i 


>» 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


21B 


an  enterprise  more  valuable  than  a  gold  mine,  if  an 
American  can  imagine  such  a  thing. 

The  perpendicular  bluff  of  eruptive  rock,  distinctly 
columnar  in  many  places,  and  with  its  talus  reaching 
from  half  to  two-thirds  the  way  to  thet^ij_as  shown  in 
the  view  looking  into  the  mouth  of  the  Pelly,  on  page 
209,  and  the  view  on  page  205  also,  extends  up  that 
stream  on  the  north  or  right  bank  as  far  as  it  was  visited, 
some  two  or  three  miles,  and  so  continues  down  the  Yukon 
along  the  same  (north)  bank  for  twelve  or  thirteen  miles, 
when  the  encroaching  high  mountains,  forming  the  upper 
gates  of  the  ramparts,  obliterate  it  as  a  later  formation. 
In  but  one  place  that  I  saw  along  this  extended  front  of 
rocky  parapet  was  there  a  ^ap  sufficient  to  permit  of 
one's  climbing  from  the  bottom,  over  the  rough  debris,  to 
the  level  grassy  plateau  that  extended  backward  from 
its  crest;  although  in  many  places  this  plateau  could 
be  gained  by  alpine  climbing  for  short  distances,  up  the 
crevices  in  the  body  of  the  steep  rock.  This  level 
plateau  does  not  extend  far  back  before  the  foot  of  the 
high  rolling  hills  is  gained. 

In  the  illustration  on  page  209  the  constant  barricades 
of  tangled  driftwood  encountered  everywhere  on  the 
upstream  ends  and  promontories  of  the  many  islands  of 
these  rivers  are  shown,  although  the  quantity  shown  in 
the  view  falls  greatly  below  the  average,  the  heads  of  the 
islands  being  often  piled  up  with  stacks  ten  or  twenty 
feet  high,  which  are  useful  in  one  way,  as  forming  a  dam 
tha ,  serves  during  freshets  and  high  water,  to  protect 
them  more  or  less  from  the  eroding  power  of  the  rapid 
river. 

A  grave  or  burial  place  of  the  Ayan  (or  lyan)  Indians 


216 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


probably  some  three  months  old,  planted  on  the  very 
edge  of  the  river  bank  near  the  site  of  old  Fort  Selkirk, 
was  a  type  of  the  many  we  afterward  saw  at  intervals 
from  this  point  for  about  two-thirds  of  the  distance  to 
old  Port  Yukon,  and  is  represented  on  page  217.  Before 
burial  the  body  is  bent  with  the  knees  up  to  the  breast, 
so  as  to  occupy  as  little  longitudinal  space  as  possible, 
and  is  inclosed  in  a  very  rough  box  of  hewn  boards  two 
and  three  inches  thick,  cut  out  by  means  of  rude  native 
axes,  and  is  then  buried  in  the  ground,  the  lid  of  the 
coffin,  if  it  can  be  called  such,  seldom  being  over  a  foot 
or  a  foot  and  a  half  below  the  surface  of  the  pile.  The 
grave's  inclosure  or  fence  is  constructed  of  roughly-hewn 
boards,  standing  upright  and  closely  joined  edge  to  edge, 
four  corner-posts  being  prolonged  above,  and  somewhat 
neatly  rounded  into  a  bed-post  design  represented  in  the 
figure,  from  which  they  seldom  depart.  It  is  lashed  at 
the  top  by  a  wattling  of  willow  withes,  the  lower  ends  of 
the  boards  being  driven  a  short  way  into  the  ground, 
while  one  or  two  intermediate  stripes  of  red  paint  resem- 
ble other  bands  when  viewed  at  a  distance.  From  the 
grave  itself  is  erected  a  long,  light  pole  twenty  or  twenty- 
five  feet  in  height,  having  usually  a  piece  of  colored  cloth 
flaunting  from  its  top ;  although  in  this  particular 
instance  the  cloth  was  of  a  dirty  white.  Not  far  away, 
and  always  close  enough  to  show  that  it  is  some  super- 
stitious adjunct  of  the  grave  itself,  stands  another  pole 
of  about  equal  height,  to  the  top  of  which  there  is 
fastened  a  poorly  carved  wooden  figure  of  a  fish,  duck, 
goose,  bear,  or  some  other  animal  or  bird,  this  being,  I 
believe,  a  sort  of  savage  totem  designating  the  family  or 
sub-clan  of  the  tribe  to  which  the  deceased  belonged. 


«w 


r'  ■■ 

J  3 

Ik 

L-.:.:'  ■_.  ^n;;_- ,  ■, . 

','. 

n^ 

^9 

j:ifr 

AYAN   GRAVE  NEAR   OLD   FORT   SELKIRK. 
TiOoking  across  and  down  the  Yukon  River. 


Tl 

SI 
si 

T] 

p] 
til 
it 

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wi 

he 

si( 

it5 

ge 

CO 

mi 
to 
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THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


81» 


This  second  pole  may  be,  and  very  often  is,  a  fine  young 
spruce  tree  of  proper  height  and  shape  and  convenient 
situation,  stripped  of  its  limbs  and  peeled  of  its  bark. 
The  little  "  totem  "  figure  at  the  top  may  thus  be  easily 
placed  in  position  before  the  limbs  are  cut  off.  It  is  some- 
times constructed  as  a  weather-vane,  or  more  probably 
it  is  easier  to  secure  firmly  in  its  position  by  a  wooden 
pin  driven  vertically,  and  so  as  the  green  wood  seasons 
and  shrinks  it  becomes  as  it  were  a  sepulcral  anemoscope 
without  having  been  so  intended.  These  poles  may  be 
horizontally  striped  with  native  red  paint,  and  the  out- 
side pole  has  one  or  more  pieces  of  cloth  suspended  from 
its  trunk.  These  graves  are  always  near  the  river  shore, 
generally  on  the  edge  of  a  high  gravel  bank  which  is  in 
course  of  excavation  by  the  swift  current,  and  when 
fresh  and  the  boards  white  are  visible  from  a  distance  of 
many  miles.  There  is  no  tendency,  as  far  as  I  could  see, 
to  group  them  into  graveyards,  beyond  the  fact  that  they 
are  a  little  more  numerous  near  their  semi-permanent  vil- 
lages than  elsewhere,  the  convenience  of  interment  being 
evidently  the  controlling  cause  of  location.  Leaving  out 
the  two  high  poles,  there  is  a  rough  resemblance  to  the 
graves  of  civilized  countries ;  and  no  doubt  much  of 
their  form  and  structure  is  due  to  the  direct  or  indirect 
contact  with  civilization.  My  own  Indians  (Chilkats) 
told  me  that  they  formerly  placed  the  bodies  of  their 
dead  on  pole  scaffoldings  in  the  branches  of  the  trees  near 
the  river  bank,  somewhat  after  the  manner  of  the  Sioux 
and  other  Indian  tribes  of  our  great  western  plains  ;  and 
in  one  instance  a  very  old,  rotten  and  dilapidated  scaffold 
in  a  tree  was  pointed  out  to  me  as  having  once  served 
that  purpose,  although  there  were  no  indications  to  con- 


220 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


n> 


firm  the  story  ;  but  these  might  have  easily  been  obliter- 
ated. They  also  make  small  scaffoldings  or  little 
caches  in  the  lower  branches  of  trees  to  protect  their  con- 
tents, usually  provisions  and  clothing,  from  bears,  wolves, 
and  possibly  from  their  own  dogs,  of  which  they  possess 
large  numbers  of  a  black  and  brown  mongrel  breea.  In 
the  summertime  these  curs  are  eminently  worthless  except 
as  scavengers  for  the  refuse  decaying  salmon,  but 
in  the  winter  season  they  are  used  to  draw  the  rude 
native  sledges  and  to  assist  in  trailing  moose  and 
caribou. 

Mr.  Homan  succeeded  in  getting  a  photograph 
(page  221),  of  a  group  of  Ayan  or  lyan  Indians,  with 
their  birch-bark  canoes.  We  found  it  very  difficult  to 
keep  these  nervous  fellows  still ;  and,  as  far  as  fine 
rendering  of  features  is  concerned,  the  photograph  was 
not  perfect.  Their  birch-bark  canoes  are  the  best  on 
any  part  of  the  long  river  for  lightness,  compactness, 
and  neatness  of  build  and  design,  and  form  a  most 
remarkable  contrast  to  the  unwieldy  dilapidated  "dug- 
outs" of  the  Tahk-heesh  Indians  above  them  on  the 
Yukon.  The  Ayan  canoe  paddle,  well 
shown  in  outline  in  th^  hands  of  one  of 
the  group,  is  of  the  cro-s-section  on  this 
page,  the  ridge  or  rib  r  being  always  held  to  the 
rear  in  using  it.  In  addition  to  the  jiaddle,  the  canoe- 
man  keeps  with  him  two  light  poles,  about  as  long  as 
the  paddle  itself,  and  as  heavy  as  its  handle  ;  and  these 
are  employed  in  ascending  the  river,  the  pole  man 
keeping  near  the  shallow  shores,  and  using  one  in  each 
hand  on  either  side  of  the  canoe,  poling  against  the 
bottom.     So  swift  is  the  river  in  these  parts  (and  in  fact 


CRD?»-">"rTiON  AT  AN 
CANOB  PADDLE. 


CD 


K 


W 


o 


w 


"^iBWfwr 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


it  is  extremely  rapid  during  its  entire  course),  that  the 
rative  canoemen  use  no  other  method  in  ascending  it, 
ex(?ept  for  very  short  distances.  The  Eskimo  method, 
in  use  on  the  h)wer  i)art  of  the  river,  of  harnessing  dogs 
to  their  craft  like  canal  horses  and  towing  them  along 
the  banks,  I  did  not  see  in  operation  during  my  stay 
among  the  Ayans,  although  they  possessed  all  the 
requisites  for  such  an  easy  and  convenient  method  of 
navigation.  In  descending  the  river  the  current  is  the 
main  motive  power,  especially  for  long  journeys,  and  the 
l)addle  is  only  sparingly  used  to  keep  the  canoe  in  the 
swiftest  part  of  the  stream.  When  required,  however, 
they  can  go  at  a  speed  that  few  canoemen  in  the  world, 
savage  or  civilizetl,  can  equal. 

Two  species  of  fish  were  caught  from  the  banks  near 
the  site  of  Selkirk,  the  grayling  being  of  the  same  kind 
we  had  caught  near  the  rapids  just  above  and  be]<>w  the 
Grand  Canon,  and  had  found  in  varying  numbers  from 
Perthes  Point  in  Ltike  l^ove,  to  the  mouth  of  Wliite 
River,  nearly  a  hundred  irdles  below  Selkirk,  averaging 
a  trifle  over  a  pc  and  in  weight ;  and  a  trout-like  salmon, 
cjiught  occasionally  from  Lake  Nares  to  AVhite  River, 
sometimes  with  an  jis'ificia.l  flJ^  butmore  frequently  on  the 
trout  lines  with  baited  hooks  that  were  put  out  over  night 
Avuerever  we  camped.  A  most  disgusting  and  hideous 
species  of  eel-pout  monoi)olized  our  trout  lines  whenever 
they  were  put  out  at  this  point,  from  which  even  the 
invincible  stomachs  of  our  Indian  allies  and  visitors  had 
to  refi'ain.  Small  black  gnats,  somewhat  resembling  the 
buifalo  gnats  of  the  plains,  were  ojjserved  near  Selkirk 
in  considerable  numbers,  and  our  Indians  hinted  that 
t  hey  indicated  the  presence  of  large  game,  a  story  which 


224 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


we  would  gladly  have  had  corroborated,  but  in  this  we 
were  (disappointed. 

We  jL:ot  away  from  Selkirk  on  July  loth,  shortly  after 
noontin.e,  having  waited  for  a  meridian  culmination  of 
the  sun  in  order  to  take  an  observation  for  latitude. 
The  country  gradually  becomes  more  mountainous  as 
we  descend,  and  this  bold  character  continues  with  but 
slight  exceptions  for  over  a  mmdred  miles  :'urther.  The 
river  view  reminded  me  strongly  of  the  Columbia  River 
near  the  Cascades,  the  Hudson  at  West  Point,  or  the 
Potomac  at  Harper's  Ferry,  diflFering  only  in  the  pres- 
ence everywhere  of  innumerable  islands,  a  permanen^^ 
characteristic  of  the  Yukon,  and  one  in  which  it  exceeds 
any  other  stream  known  to  me,  whether  from  observa- 
tion or  description. 

Although  we  had  understood  from  the  few  Indians 
who  had  visited  us  in  their  canoes,  that  their  village  was 
but  a  few  miles  below  Fort  Selkirk,  we  had  become  so 
accustomed  to  iinding  insignificant  jjarties  of  natives, 
here  and  there,  that  it  was  ii  great  surprise  to  us  when 
we  suddenly  rounded  the  lo  .ver  end  of  an  island  about 
four  o'  (;lock  that  afternoon,  and  saw  from  a  hundred  and 
seventy-five  to  two  hundred  wild  savages  drawn  up  ready 
to  receive  us  on  the  narrow  beach  in  front  of  their  brush 
village  on  the  south  side  of  the  river.  Our  coming 
had  evidently  been  heralded  bj''  couriers,  and  all  of  the 
natives  were  apparently  half -frantic  with  excitement  for 
fear  we  might  drift  by  without  visiting  them.  They  ran  up 
and  down  the  bank  wildly  swaying  their  arms  in  the  air, 
and  shouting  and  screaming  to  the  great  fleet  of  canoes 
that  surrounded  us,  until  I  feared  they  might  have  un 
friendly  designs,  and  in  fact,  their  numbers  appeared 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


225 


{I  i 


SO  overwhelming  when  compared  with  our  little  band  that 
I  gave  the  necessary  orders  in  respect  to  arms  so  as  to 
give  the  Indians  as  little  advantage  as  possible  in  case 
of  an  encounter  at  such  close  c^uarters;  A  line  was  car- 
ried ashore  by  means  of  these  canoes,  and  every  man, 
woman  and  child  in  the  crowd  made  an  attempt  to  get 
hold  of  it,  the  foremost  of  them  running  out  into  the 
ice-cold  water  up  to  the  very  arm-pits  in  order  to  seize 
it,  and  the  great  gridiron  ol  logs  went  cutting  through 
the  water  like  a  steam-launch,  and  brought  up  against 
the  shore  in  a  way  that  nearly  took  us  off  our  feet. 

Immediately  after  our  raft  was  securely  moored,  the 
crowd  of  Indians  who  lined  the  narrow  beach  commenced 
singing  and  dancing — men  and  boys  on  i;he  (their)  left, 
and  women  and  girls  on  the  right.  The  song  was  low  and 
monotonous,  but  not  melodious,  bearing  a  resemblance  to 
savage  music  in  general.  Their  outspread  hands  were 
phioed  on  their  hips,  their  arms  akimho,  and  they  swayed 
from  side  to  side  as  far  as  their  lithe  bodies  would  x^er- 
niit,  keeping  time  to  the  rude  tune  in  alternate  oscilla- 
Hon,-  to  the  right  and  left,  all  moving  synchronously  and 
in  .1,  same  direction,  their  long  black  masses  of  hair 
tl(,  Srri;-  wildly  to  and  fro,  and  serviuij:  the  practical  pur- 
l)ose  of  keeping  off  the  gnnts  and  mosquitoes  which  other- 
wise might  have  made  nny  o.it  door  enjoyments  impossi- 
ble. During  all  this  time  the  mediv-^ire  r.ien  went  through 
the  most  hideous  gymiiastirs  possible  along  the  front  of 
the  line,  one  who  had  a  blue-black  bhinket  with  a  St. 
rieorge's  cross  of  flaming  red  in  its  center  being  especi- 
' ; :  >  conspicuous.  He  excelled  in  striking  theatrical  atti- 
tudes of  the  most  sensational  order,  in  which  the  showy 
blanket  was  made  to  do  its  x>art,  and  he  was  forthwith 


226 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


I 


dubbed  Hamlet  by  the  men  of  the  party,  by  way  of  a  sub- 
stitute for  his  almost  unpronounceable  name.  Even  after 
the  performance,  this  pomi)ous  individual  strutted  along 
the  banks  as  if  he  owned  the  whole  British  North-west 
territory  ;  a  pretension  that  was  contradicted  by  his  per- 
sistent begging  for  every  trilling  object  that  attracted  his 
eye,  as  though  he  had  never  owned  any  thing  of  value  in 
his  life.  After  thr  s'nging  and  dancing  were  over,  a  few 
trilling  presents  weit  n  to  most  of  the  Ii^dians  as  a 
reward  for  their  enter  L.anment.  A  photograph  was  at- 
tempted by  Mr.  Homan  of  this  dancing  group,  but  the  day 
was  so  unfavorable,  with  its  black  lowering  clouds,  the 
amateur  apparatus  so  incomplete,  and  the  right  moment 
so  hard  to  seize,  that  the  effect  was  a  complete  failure. 
Once  or  twice  we  got  the  long  line  in  position  in  their  best 
attitudes,  "  Hamlet "  looking  his  most  ferocious,  and  re- 
sembling a  spread  eagle  with  the  feathers  pulled  out,  but 
just  as  the  photographer  was  ready  to  pull  the  cap  off  the 
camera,  some  impatient  young  fellow,  inspired  by  tlie 
crowd  and  the  attitude  of  dancing,  would  begin  to 
hum  their  low  song  of  Yi-yi-yi-yi's  and  it  was  as  impos- 
sible to  keep  the  others  from  taking  up  the  cadence  and 
swaying  themselves  as  it  was  to  .irrest  the  earth's 
revolution. 

From  a  book  written  by  a  previous  traveler  on  the 
lower  river,  who  pretended  to  a  knowledge  of  the  tribes 
upon  its  upper  part  also,  I  had  been  deluded  into  the 
idea  that  useful  articles — such  as  knives,  saws,  and  liles, 
— were  the  best  for  trading  purposes  with  these  Indians, 
or  for  the  hire  of  native  help;  but  I  was  not  long  in  find- 
ing out  tliatthis  was  most  gratuitous  misinformation;  for 
the  constant  burden  of  their  solicitations  was  a  request 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RA^fPARTS. 


227 


for  tea  Jiud  tobacco,  .small  quantities  of  which  they  get 
by  baiter  with  intermediate  rii>arian  tribes.  These 
wants  I  i'ouud  to  extend  anumg  tlie  natives  througliout 
the  whole  length  of  the  river  in  ^  trying  degrees,  and,  as 
the  former  article  is  very  light,  1  would  especially  recom- 
mend it  to  those  about  to  enter  the  country  for  [)uri)os«^s 
of  scientific  research,  for  which  it  is  such  a  grand  Held. 
N.>xt  to  tea  and  toba(?co,  which  we  could  only  spare  in 
small  cpiantities,  fish-hooks  seemed  to  be  in  good  (hMuand 
among  this  particular  tribe  ;  and  the  very  few  articles 
they  had  to  spare,  mostly  horn  spoons,  and  birch-bark 
ladles  and  buckets  were  eagerly  exchanged.  l^ielow 
White  River,  fishing  on  the  Yukon  with  hook  and  line 
ceases,  and  fish-hooks  are  worthless  as  articles  of  ex- 
change. Another  article  freely  brouglit  us  was  tiie  pair 
of  small  bone  gambling-tools  (sliown 
on  this  page)  so  characiteristic  of  the 
whole  north-west  country.  Tliev  have 
been  described  when  si)eaking  of 
tiie  (.Miilkat  Indians  and  I  saw  no 
material  <lifference  in  their  (f.sc  by  this  particular  tiibe. 
Tli^st^  Indians  call  themselves  the  A-yans — with  an 
occasional  leaning  of  the  pronunciation  toward  I-yan  ; 
and  this  village,  so  they  said,  contained  the  majority  of 
the  tribe,  although  from  their  understanding  of  the 
(piestion  they  may  have  meant  that  it  was  the  largest 
village  (.f  the  tribe.  Their  country,  as  they  claim  it, 
extends  up  the  Pelly — the  Imlian  name  of  which  is 
Af/an — to  the  lakes,  up  the  Yukon  from  this  point  to 
the  village  of  Kit'-ah-gon,  and  down  that  stream  to 
near  the  mouth  of  the  White  and  Stewart  Rivers,  where 
they  are  suc<  'eded  by  a  tribe  called  tlie  Nctcli-on'-dii'S 


D 


H 


D 


AVAN     AND     CI1II.KAT 
OAMBLINO  TOUU). 


228 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


or  Na-olion'  -des — the  Iiidiun  name  of  the  Stewart  River 
being  Na-chon'-de.  1'hey  are  a  strictly  rijiarian  race 
of  jjeople  and  define  their  country  only  as  it  extends 
along  the  principal  streams.  From  the  river  as  a  home 
or  base,  however,  they  make  frequent  hunting  excur- 
sions to  the  interior  in  the  winter  time  for  moose  and 
caribou.  This  village,  which  they  called  Kah-tun<j^ 
seemed  to  be  of  a  semi-permanent  character ;  the  houses 
or  huts  made  of  spruce  brush,  over  the  top  of  which 
there  was  an  occasionjd  piece  of  well-worn  cloth  or  dirty 
canvas,  but  more  often  a  moose  or  caribou  skin.  These 
brush  houses  were  squalid  affairs,  and  especially  so 
compared  with  the  bright  intelligent  features  of  the 
makers,  and  with  some  of  their  other  handicraft,  such 
as  their  canoes  and  native  wearing  ai)parel.  The  little 
civilized  clothing  they  possess  is  obtained  by  barter  with 
neighboring  tribes,  and  has  generally  been  worn  out  by 
the  latter  before  they  exchange,  hence  it  is  tattered  and 
filthy  beyond  measure,  and  in  no  wise  so  well  adapted 
to  their  purpose  as  the  native  clothing  of  buckskin.  One 
couhl  hardly  stjind  up  in  these  brush  houses,  they  wei'e 
built  so  low,  and  any  attempt  to  do  so  was  fru  i  '.'ated  by 
the  quantities  of  odoriferous  salmon  hanging  down  from 
the  squat  roofs,  undergoing  a  process  of  smoking  in  the 
dense  clouds  that  emanated  from  spruce-knot  fires  on 
the  fioor.  These  ornaments,  coupled  with  the  thick 
carpeting  of  live  dogs  upon  the  fioor,  made  the  outside 
of  the  house  the  most  pleasant  part  of  it.  The  houses 
were  generally  double,  facing  each  other,  with  a  narrow 
aisle  a  foot  or  two  wide  between,  each  one  containing  a 
single  family,  and  being  about  the  area  of  a  common  or 
government  A  tent.     The  ridge-poles  were  common  to 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


229 


the  two  lioiises,  and  as  both  leaned  forward  considerably 
this  gave  them  strength  to  resist  violent  winds.  The 
diagram  on  this  page  gives  a  ground  plan  of  an  Ayan 
double  brush-house.  The  village  of  Kali-tung  contained 
about  twentv  of  these 
wpuilidhuts,  huddled  nejM-  / 
the  river   .  .ink,  and  alto-    / 


-^1  -r- 


I  i 


gether  was  the  largest  In- 


\ 


dian  village  we  saw  on  the      \ 


6  I  en 

»i  in 

I 

I 

I 


.11. 


-— — -JLJ 
PLAN  OF  AVAN  Sl'MMEU  IIOITSK  OF  BBUBU. 


whole  length  of  the  Yukon 
River. 

There  was  a  most  decided  Hebrew  cast  of  countenance 
among  many  of  the  Ayans  ;  more  pronounced,  in  fact, 
than  I  have  ever  seen  among  savages,  and  so  much  so  as 
to  make  it  a  subject  of  constant  remark. 

Their  household  imi^lements  were  of  the  most  primitive 
type, — such  as  spoons  of  the  liorn  of  the  mountain  goat, 
very  similar  to  those  of  the  Tlinkits,  but  by  no  means  so 
well  carved  ;  and  a  few  buckets,  pans,  and  trays  of  birch- 
bark,  ingeniously  constructed  of  one  piece  so  as  not  to 
leak,  and  neatly  sewed  with  long  withes  of  trailing  roots. 
(The  finer  thread-like  spruce  roots,  well-boiled,  are,  I  be- 
lieve, generally  used  by  them  in  sewing  their  birch-bark 
canoes  and  utensils.) 

Their  i)resent  village  was,  as  I  have  said,  evidently 
(mly  of  a  semi -permanent  character,  used  in  the  summer 
during  the  time  that  salmon  were  ascending  the  river  to 
sj)awn  ;  the  bright  red  sides  of  this  fish,  as  they  were 
hanging  around,  split  open,  forming  a  not  inartistic  con- 
trast with  the  dark  green  s])ruce  boughs  of  the  houses 
and  surrounding  forests;  the  artistic  effect,  however,  was 
best  appreciated  when   holding  one's  nose.     Scattered 


230 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


I 


around  in  every  direction  was  a  horde  of  dogs  that  defied 
computation,  and  it  must  be  an  immense  drain  on  tlieii* 
commissariat  to  keep  these  animals  alive  let  alone  in  good 
condition.  The  amount  of  active  exercise  theA^  took, 
however,  would  not  suffice  to  reduce  them  in  flesh,  for 
their  principal  occupation  seemed  to  be  unlimited  sleep. 


KON-IT'l,   chief    Oh'   TUK    AYAJSS. 

Although  we  were  not  successful  in  getting  a  photograph 
of  the  long  group  of  dancers,  we  were  more  fortunate  with 
a  group  of  the  chiefs  and  medicine-man  "  Hamlet,"  from 
which  the  portrait  on  this  page,  of  Kon-it'l,  their  cliief, 
is  taken.     It  was  impossible  to  get  them  to  face  the 


n 


TllUOlUH  THE  Vl'l'ER  RAMPARTS. 


231 


canieJJi  at  .such  tslioit  laii^c  until  one  of  tlit'  membHrs  of 
the  exi»Ioriiig  piirty  t()(>k  his  ijosilioii  with  them,  while 
Mr.  Iloman  secured  tlie  i>h()tograi)h. 

The  Ayan  mothers,  instead  of  currying  their  l)al)es  on 
their  backs  with  their  faeces  to  the  front,  as  is  usually 
done  by  savjige  women,  unless  when  using  a  cradle,  tiirn 
them  around  so  as  to  have  them  back  to  back,  and  carry 
them  so  low  as  to  tit  as  it  were  into  the  "  small  of  the 
back." 

Most  of  the  Ayan  men,  and  es[)ecially  the  younger 
members,  were  armed  with  bows  and  anows,  l)uttii(;re 
was  quite  a  considerable  sininkling  of  old  Hint  lock 
Hudson  Bay  Conii)any  muskets  among  them,  which  they 


^-^VV^C^-^ 


AYAV    MOUSE   ARROW. 

had  ])i-ocured  by  trade  many  years  ago  when  Fort  Sel- 
kirk iioui'ished.  or  by  intertribal  barter,  and  their  cost  to 
these  poor  savages  was  almost  fabulous.  The  (jonii)any's 
manner  of  selling  a  gun  was  to  set  it  uiH'ight  (mthetloor 
of  the  trader's  store,  and  then  to  ])ile  ui)  furs  alongside 
of  it  until  they  reached  the  muzzle,  when  the  exchange 
was  made,  many  of  the  skins  being  those  of  the  black 
and  silver-gi-ay  fox,  and  their  aggregate  value  being 
probably  three  to  four  hundred  dollars.  Their  bows  and 
arrows  were  of  the  stereotyped  Indi.'inmake,  with  no  dis- 
tinguishing ornament  or  peculiarity  of  construction 
worthy  of  notice. 

The  moose  arrows  used  by  this  tribe,   shown  in  illus- 
tration on  this  page,  have  at  the  i)oint  the  usual  double 


232 


ALOXa  ALASKA'S  GREAT  lilVEIt 


barb  of  common  arrows,  wiiile  one  side  is  prolon«^e(l  for 
two  or  three  inches  into  a  series  of  barbs;  these  latter 
they  chiim  have  the  effect  of  working  inward  witli  the 
motions  of  the  muscles  of  the  animal  if  it  be  only 
wounded.  Once  wounded  in  this  mimner  these  sleuth- 
hounds  of  savages  will  remain  on  the  trail  of  a  moose  for 
days  if  need  be,  until  this  dreadful  weap(m  has  reached 
a  vital  point,  or  so  disabled  the  animal  that  it  easily  suc- 
cumbs to  its  pursuers.  In  iiimting  mf)ose  in  the  summer 
time,  while  these  animals  are  swimming  across  the  hikes 
or  broad  streams,  I  Avas  told  by  one  of  my  interpi-eters 
who  had  often  traded  among  them,  and  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  their  habits  and  cust(mis,  that  these  Ayans 
(and  in  fact  several  tribes  below  them  on  the  river),  do 
not  hesitate  to  jump  on  the  animals'  back  in  the  lake  or 
river,  leaving  the  canoe  to  look  after  itself,  and  dispatch 
the  brute  with  a  hand  knife,  cutting  its  throat  or  stab- 
bing it  in  the  neck  as  illustrated  on  page  261.  Of  course, 
a  companion  in  another  canoe  is  needed  to  assist  in  get- 
ting the  carcass  ashore,  and  secure  the  hunter's  canoe. 
They  often  attack  the  moose  in  their  canoes  while  swim- 
ming as  described  by  previous  exi)lorers  on  the  lower 
river,  but  say  that  if  by  any  unskillful  movement  they 
should  only  wound  the  animal  it  may  turn  and  wreck 
their  vessel,  which  is  too  great  a  loss  for  them  to  risk. 
A  flying  moose  will  not  turn  in  the  water  unless  irritated 
by  wounds.  The  knives  they  use  in  hunting  are  great 
double-edged  ones,  with  flaring  ornamental  handles,  well 
illustrated  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner  of  the  jiicture 
mentioned.  They  tell  me  these  knives  are  of  native 
manufacture,  the  handles  being  wrapped  with  moose 
leather  so  as    to   give  the  hand  a  good  grip.     Alto- 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


233 


gether,  they  iire  most   villuiuoufs  and  piratical  looking 
things. 

Only  one  or  two  log-cabins  were  seen  anywhere  in  the 
Ayan  country,  and  tiiese  had  the  dilapidated  air  of 
<;omplete  and  permanent  abandonment,  altliough  this 
whole  district  of  the  river  is  teeming  with  timber  appro- 
priate for  such  use.  Probably  the  nomatlic  and  restless 
character  of  the  inhabitants  makes  it  irksome  for  them 
to  dwell  in  such  permanent  abodes,  in  sj)ite  of  the  great 
comfort  to  be  derived  in  their  almost  Arctic  winters  from 


CROSS-SECTION    THROUGH    AYAN   WINTKR   TENT. 

such  buildings,  if  well  constructed.  Thf^  severity  of  the 
winter  is  shown  by  the  moist  banks  of  the  river,  the 
appearance  of  which  indicates  that  they  have  been  frozen 
some  six  or  eight  feet  in  depth.  In  winter  the  Ayjui 
live  mostly  in  tents,  but  by  an  ingenious  arrangement 
these  ordinarily  cold  habitatione  are  made  reasonably 
comfortable.  This  winter  tent  is  shown  in  cross-section 
above,  I  being  the  interior,  and  P  P  the  tent  poles 
well  covered  with  moose  or  caribou  skins.  A  second  set 
of  poles,  p  p,  are  given  a  wider  spread,  inclosing  an  air 
space,  A  S,  a  foot  or  two  across.     These,  too,  are  cov- 


264 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GHEAT  RIVER. 


ei'ivl  with  iuiiriial  skins,  uiid  a  thick  banking  of  .snow,  ss, 
two  or  tiuve  feet  deep  is  tiirown  over  the  outside  tent 
during  the  coldest  weather  of  winter,  making  a  sort  of 
hybrid  between  tlie  Eskimo  it/loo,  or  sm)vv  house,  and 
tlie  Indian  skin  hulge. 

Afiiny  of  tile  Ayans  were  persistent  beggars,  and  next 
morning,  tlie  Kith  of  .July,  we  got  an  early  start  before 
many  of  them  were  about,  for  as  a  tribe  tliey  did  not 
seem  to  be  very  early  lisers. 

Neai'Iy  directly  opposite  the  Kah-tung  village  the  per- 
pendicular basaltic  blulfs  shown  in  the  view  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Pelly  cease  ;  and  from  tliis  point  on,  the  hills  on 
both  sides  of  the  river  were  higher  and  even  mountain- 
ous in  character;  ''the  upi)er  gates  of  the  upper  ram- 
l)arts." 

From  this  ])oint  on  down  through  the  ramparts  small 
blac^k  gnats  Ixv-auie  iinuoyingly  numerous  and  pugna- 
cious, while  the  plague  of  moscpiitoes  seemed  to  abate  a 
little.  The  moscpiito-biii's,  which  were  some  protection 
from  the  latter,  were  of  no  use  against  the  former,  the 
little  imps  sailing  right  between  the  meshes  without 
even  stopping  to  ciJi wl  through.  A'eils  with  the  very 
finest  meshes  would  be  needed  to  repidse  their  onslaughts, 
and  with  these  we  wei'e  not  j^rovided. 

That  day,  the  lOth,  we  drifted  forty-seven  miles, 
through  a  most  picturesque  section  of  country,  our  jour- 
ney being  marred  only  by  a  number  of  recurring  and 
disagreeable  thunder  showers  that  wet  us  to  the  skin. 

Everywhere  in  conspicuous  ]>ositions  near  the  edge  of 
the  river  banks  we  saw  straggling  and  isolated  Ayan 
graves,  resembling,  in  general,  the  one  photographed  at 
Selkirk,  and  not  unlike  pretty  little  white  cottages,  when 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


835 


seen  from   the  disttuicf  projected   against  tlie  somber 
green  of  the  (lee[)  spriire  forests. 

About  thirty-four  miles  beyond  old  Selkirk  a  small 
but  (ronspicuioua  mountain  stream  vume  in  from  the 
south,  wliich  I  named  after  Professor  Selwyn,  of  Ottawa, 
Canada. 

The  river  was  still  full  of  islands,  however,  many  of 
whi(;h  are  eovereil  with  tall  spruce,  and  look  very  pic- 
turesque  in  the  almost  canon-like  river-bottom,  the  steep 
mountain  sides  being  nesirly  devoiil  of  heavy  forests. 

In  one  of  the  many  open  spaces  far  up  the  mountain 
side,  we  saw  a  huge  black  bear,  evidently  hunting  his 
daily  meal  among  the  roots  and  berii -s  that  there 
abound.  Although  we  passed  within  half  a  mile  of  him, 
lie  took  no  more  notice  of  us  than  if  our  raft  had  been 
a  floating  chip,  and  we  did  not  disturb  his  search  with 
any  long-range  shots. 

A  little  further  down,  and  on  the  same  side  of  the 
river,  the  northern,  we  saw  three  white  mountain  goats 
on  the  very  highest  ridges  of  the  hills.  Timid  as  they 
are,  the  only  notice  they  deigned  to  give  us  was  that 
such  as  were  asleep  roused  themselves  and  stood  gazing 
at  us  until  we  had  drifted  well  past,  when  they  began 
grazing  leisurely  along  the  ridge. 

About  this  time  our  attention  was  quite  forcibly  called 
to  a  singular  phenomenon  while  riding  on  the  raft,  which 
was  especdally  noticeable  on  quiet  sunny  days.  It  was  a 
very  pronounced  crackling  sound,  not  unlike  that  of  a 
strong  fire  running  through  dry  cedar  brush,  or  that  of  the 
first  rain  drops  of  a  thunder  storm  falling  on  the  roof  of 
a  tent.  Some  of  the  men  attributed  it  to  the  rattling  on 
the  logs  of  the  raft  of  a  shower  of  pebbles  brought  up  by 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 

the  swift  current  horn  underneath,  which  would  have 
been  a  good  enough  theory  as  far  as  the  sound  wae 
concerned ;  but  soundings  in  such  places  invariably 
failed  to  touch  bottom  with  a  sixteen-foot  pole,  and, 
moreover,  when  we  were  in  shallower  and  swifter  waters, 
where  the  bottom  was  pebbly,  the  sounds  were  not 
observed.  As  the  noise  always  occurred  in  deep  water 
of  a  boiling  character,  iiguratively  speaking, — or  in  that 
agitated  condition  so  common  in  deep  water  immediately 
after  a  shoal,  a  condition  with  which  our  exi)erience  in 
prying  the  raft  off  shoals  i.  d  rendered  us  familiar — I 
attempted  to  account  for  it  upon  the  theory  explained 
by  tlie  figure  just  below.  The  raft  x,  drifting  with  the 
arrow,  passes  from  a  shallow  to  a  deep  stretch  of  water. 
The  Yukon  River  is  a  very  swift  stream  for  its  size  (we 
drifted  that  day,  July  16,  forty-seven  and  a  luilf  geo- 
graphical miles  in  eleven  hours  and  fifty  minutes,  and 
even  this  rate  cannot  represent  the  swiftest  current),  and 
the  pebbles,   carried    forward    over  the   shallows  and 

reaching  the  crest  r/, 

are    borne    along    by 

their  own  inertia  and 

the  superficial  current, 

and  literally  dropped 

on  a  gravel -bank  at  some  point  forward,  such  as  b,  and, 

w^ater  being  so  excellent  a  conductor  of  sound,  an  observer 

on  a  low  floating  craft,  during  quiet  days,  might  distinctly 

hear  this  falling,  whereas  it  would  not  be  heard  if  the 

pebbles  were  sim'ily  rolling  along  the  bottom  in  swifter 

and  noisier  water.     The  suddenness  with  which  this 

crackling  commenced  and  the  gradual  manner  in  which 

it  died  out,   seem  to  confirm  this  idea.     A  series  of 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


237 


soundings  before  and  after  lie  occiirrenc^e  of  these  singu- 
lar noises  would  have  settled  this  theory  ;  but  the  sound 
recurred  so  seldom  (say  twice,  or  perhaps  three  times,  a 
day  in  this  part  of  the  river),  that  it  was  impossible  to 
predict  it  in  time  to  put  the  theory  to  t'le  test,  unless 
one  kept  constantly  sounding  while  upon  tlie  river.  It 
was  observed  on  the  lower  river  in  a  much  less  degree, 
and  probably  might  there  have  passed  unnoticed  if 
l)revious  experience  had  not  recalled  it  to  our  attention. 

That  evening  we  camped  at  8  o'clock,  after  trying  to 
CO'  duci  our  cumbersome  Aessel  to  a  i)retty  little  spot  for 
tlie  jjurpose,  but  our  well-used  "snubbing"  line  i)arted 
at  the  critical  moment  and  we  drifted  down  into  a  most 
miserable  position  among  the  high,  rank  willow  shoots, 
laden  with  water  from  the  recent  rains.  Towing  or 
''tracking"  our  craft  back  against  the  swift  current 
with  our  small  force  was  plainly  out  of  the  question,  and 
as  the  river  bank  seemed  of  the  same  character,  as  far  as 
we  could  see,  some  two  or  three  miles,  v.e  made  the  best 
of  it  aad  camped,  for  we  were  getting  used  to  such 
experiences  by  this  time. 

Next  morning,  about  7  o'clock,  when  we  were  nearly 
ready  to  start,  we  'ound  four  Ayan  Indians,  each  in  his 
birch-bark  canoe,  visiting  our  camp.  Tliey  came  from 
tlie  Kah-tung  village  aboAC,  having  left  ii,  as  they  said, 
shortly  after  our  de])arture  on  the  prece*  ing  day,  and  hiid 
cjimped  for  the  night  on  the  river  just  above  us.  They 
expressed  great  suri)rise  at  the  distatice  we  had  made  l)y 
simple  drifting,  .laving  until  this  morning  felt  certain  thiit 
they  had  passed  us  the  day  before  around  some  one  of  the 
many  islands  in  the  broad  river.  They  were  going  down 
the  river  some  two  or  three  hundred  miles  to  a  white 


238 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


trader's  store  of  wliich  they  spoke,  and  we  kept  i)assing- 
each  other  for  the  next  three  or  four  days.  They  liad 
spoken  at  the  Kah-tun<j^  vilhige  of  this  trading  sta- 
tion (whi(;h  we  took  to  be  Fort  Yukon),  wliicli 
they  said  tliey  could  reach  in  three  days ;  kindly 
adding  that  we  might  make  the  distance  with  our 
craft  in  a  week  or  so.  They  now  changvd  their 
minds  and  thought  we  might  only  be  a  diiyor  two  behind 
them.  I  found  that  the  progress  of  the  raft,  when  care 
was  taken  to  keep  in  the  swiftest  current,  for  twelve  or 
fourteen  or  perhaps  sixteen  hours  n  day,  with  no  unusual 
detentions,  fully  equaled  the  average  day's  journey  of 
the  Indian  canoes,  which  remained  in  the  water  not  more 
than  six  or  seven  hours  a  day  ;  their  occupants  stopping 
to  hunt  every  aninuil  that  might  be  seen,  as  ANell  as  to 
cook  a  midday  lunch  at  their  leisure.  In  fact  my  own 
Indians,  wlio  had  traded  among  them,  more  than  hinted 
that  they  were  hurrying  considerably  in  order  to  go  along 
with  us  and  to  reach  the  white  trader  s  store  as  a  porticm 
of  our  i)arty. 

These  same  four  fellows,  when  they  met  us  on  tlie  morn- 
ing of  the  1  Ttli,  had  with  them  the  carcass  of  a  black 
bear,  which  they  offered  for  sale,  or  barter  ;  and  on  our 
buying  one  hindquartei-,  which  was  about  all  that  we 
thought  we  •ould  use  before  spoiling,  they  offered  us  the 
rest  as  a  gift.  We  accepted  the  offer  to  the  extent  of 
taking  the  other  hindquarter,  for  which  we  gave  them  a 
trifle,  whereupon  the  rest  of  the  carcass  was  left  behind 
or  thrown  away  on  the  beach,  a  circumstance  which  was 
explained  to  us  by  the  fact  that  all  four  of  these  Indians 
were  medicine-men,  and  as  such  were  forbidden  by  some 
superstitious  custom  from  eating  bears'  flesh.  They  told 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


239 


US  that  the  iiniiiiul  was  tlie  samt'  bhick  bear  we  liad  seen 
on  the  noi'tliern  hillsides  of  the  river  the  day  before. 

The  morning  of  the  17th  and  certain  other  jieriods  of 
the  day  were  characterized  by  a  heavy  fog-bank,  which 
did  not  quite  reach  the  river  bottom,  but  cut  the  hill- 
sides at  an  altitude  of  from  three  hundred  to  live  hundred 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  stream.  The  fog  gave  a  tlismal 
and  monotonous  aspect  to  the  landscape,  but  proved  much 
better  for  our  physical  comfort  than  the  previous  day,  with 
its  alternating  rain  and  blistering  heat.  We  found  these 
fogs  to  be  very  common  on  this  jiart  of  the  river,  being 
ahnost  inseparable  from  the  southern  winds  that  prevail 
at  this  time  of  the  year.  I  suppose  these  fogs  proceed 
from  the  moisture-laden  nir  over  the  warm  Pacific  which 
is  borne  on  the  southern  winds  across  the  snow-clad  and 
glacier-crowned  mountains  of  the  Alaskan  coast  range, 
becoming  chilled  and  condensed  in  its  progress,  and 
reaching  this  part  of  the  Yukon  vallej  precipitated  as 
rain  or  fog.  The  reason  that  we  had  escaped  th»^  fogs  on  t  he 
lakes  was  that  the  wind  came  across  tracts  of  l.md  to  the 
south,  and  the  hygrometric  conditions  were  different. 
A  little  further  down  the  Yukon,  but  within  the  upper 
ramparts,  we  suffered  from  almost  constant  rains  that 
beat  with  the  southern  winds  upon  our  backs. 

Shortly  after  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  we  floated 
by  the  mouth  of  the  Wliite  River  flowing  from  the  south- 
west, which  has  the  local  name  of  Yu-ko-kon  Heena,  or 
Yu-ko-kon  River,  a  much  prettier  name  than  the  old  one 
of  the  Hudson  Bay  traders.  The  Chilkats  call  *it  the 
Sand  River,  from  the  innumerable  bars  and  banks  of 
sand  along  its  course  ;  and  many  years  ago  they  ascended 
it  by  a  trail,  which  when  continued  leads  to  their  own 


'ifiit 


240 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


country,  but  i.s  now  abandoned.  Some  forty  to  fifty 
miles  up  its  valley  the  Indian  trading  trail  wliich  leads 
from  tlie  lieadwaters  of  the  Tanana  to  old  Fort  Selkirk 
crosses  its  course  at  right  angles ;  and  sl.ice  the  destruc;- 
tion  of  Fort  Selkirk  in  18i51,  the  Tanana  Indians,  who 
then  made  considerable  use  of  the  trail  to  reach  the  fort 
for  trading  jiurposes,  employ  it  but  little  ;  and  only  theu 
as  far  as  the  White  River,  whose  valley  they  descend  to 
reach  the  Yukon, 

This  stream  resembles  a  river  of  liquid  mud  of  an 
almost  white  hue,  from  which  characteristic  it  is  said  to 
have  derived  its  name  from  the  old  Hudson  Bay  traders 
— and  no  better  illustration  of  its  extreme  mudciiness  can 
be  given  tlian  the  following  :  One  of  our  party  mistook 
a  mass  of  timber  that  had  lodged  on  the  up-stream  side 
of  a  low,  flat  mud-bar,  for  floating  wood,  and  regarded 
it  as  evidence  of  a  freshet,  a  theory  which  seemed  cor- 
roborated by  the  muddy  condition  of  the  water,  until 
the  actual  character  of  the  object  was  established  by 
closer  observation  as  we  drifted  nearer.  The  mud-bar 
and  adjacent  waters  were  so  entirely  of  the  same  color 
that  the  line  of  demarcation  was  not  readily  apparent, 
and  had  it  not  been  for  th<'  drift  iiibbish  around  the 
former  it  might  have  escaped  our  scrutiny  even  at  our 
short  distance  from  it.  'I'lie  Indians  say  that  the  White 
River  lises  in  glacier-bearing  lands,  and  that  it  is  veiy 
swift,  and  full  of  rapids  along  its  whole  course.  So 
swift  is  it  at  its  mouth,  that  as  it  pours  its  muddy  waters 
into  the  rapid  Yukon  it  carries  them  nearly  across  that 
clear  blue  stream  ;  the  waters  of  the  two  rivers  mingling 
almost  at  once,  and  not  running  distinct  for  miles  side 
by  side,  as  is  stated  in  one  book  on  Alaska.     From  the 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


241 


mouth  of  the  White  or  Yu'-ko-kou  toliering  Hea,  nearly 
1,500  miles,  the  Yukon  is  so  muddy  as  to  be  noticeable 
even  when  Hs  water  is  taken  up  in  the  palm  of  the  hand  ; 
and  all  iishingwith  hook  and  line  ceases. 

About  four  in  the  afternoon  the  mouth  of  the  Stewart 
Kiver  was  passed,  and,  being  covered  with  itdands,  might 
not  have  been  noticed  except  for  its  valley,  which  is  very 
noticeable — a  broad  valley  fenced  in  by  high  hills.  A 
visit  to  the  shore  in  our  canoe  showed  its  mouth  to  be 
deltoid  in  character,  three  mouths  being  o})served,  and 
others  probably  existing.  Islands  were  very  numerous 
in  this  portion  of  the  Yidion,  much  more  so  than  in  any 
part  of  the  river  we  had  yet  visited,  and  as  the  raft  had 
driftetl  on  while  I  went  ashore  in  the  canoe,  I  had  a  very 
hard  task  to  find  it  again  and  came  within  a  scratch  of 
losing  it,  having  passed  beyond  the  camp,  and  b<  'i  g 
compelled  to  retiun.  It  was  about  nine  o'clock  in  the 
evening  and  the  low  north-western  sun  shone  squarely  in 
our  fiices,  as  we  descended  the  river,  eagerly  looking  for 
the  ascending  smoke  of  the  camp-fire,  which  had  been 
agreed  upon,  before  separation,  as  the  signal  to  be  kept 
going  until  we  returned.  The  setting  sun  throwing  its 
slanting  rays  upon  ea«^h  ooint  of  woods  that  ran  from 
the  hillsides  down  to  the  water's  edge,  illumined  the  top 
of  them  with  a  whitish  light  until  each  one  exactly 
resembled  a  camp-fire  on  the  ri\orbank  with  the  feathery 
smoke  floating  off  along  the  tree  tops.  Even  my  Indian 
canoeman  was  deceived  at  first,  until  half  a  dozen  ap- 
])f^aring  together  in  sight  convinced  him  of  his  error. 
All  these  islands  were  densely  covered  with  spruce  and 
p()l)lar,  and  the  swift  current  cutting  into  their  alluvial 
banks,  though  the  latter  were  frozen  six  or  eight  feet 


( 


242 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


thick,  kept  their  edges  bristling  with  freslily-f alien  tim- 
ber ;  and  it  was  almost  courting  destruction  to  get  under 
this  abatis  of  trees  with. the  raft,  in  the  poAverful  cur- 
rent, to  avoid  whicli  some  of  our  hardest  work  was  nec;- 
essary.  The  preserv  .  tive  i)ower  of  this  constantly 
frozen  ground  must  be  very  great,  as  in  many  places  we 
saw  protruding  from  the  high  banks  great  accumulations 
of  driftwood  and  logs  over  which  there  was  soil  two  and 
three  feet  thick,  which  had  been  formerly  carried  by  the 
river,  and  from  which  sprung  forests  of  si)ruce  timber, 
as  high  as  any  in  sight,  at  whose  feet  were  rotting  trunks 
that  must  have  been  saplings  centuries  ago.  Yet 
wherever  this  ancient  driftwood  had  been  undermined  and 
waslied  of  its  dirt  and  thrown  upon  the  beach  along  with 
the  tree  but  just  fallen,  the  difference  between  tlie  two 
was  only  that  the  latter  still  retained  its  green  bark,  and 
its  broken  limbs  were  not  so  abraded  and  worn  ;  but 
there  seemed  to  be  no  essential  difference  in  the  tiber  of 
the  timber. 

The  evening  of  the  17th,  having  scored  forty  geo- 
graphical miles,  we  camped  on  a  low  gravel  bar,  and 
bivouacked  in  the  open  air  so  clear  and  still  was  the 
night,  although  by  morning  huge  droits  of  rain  were  fall- 
ing on  our  upturned  faces. 

On  the  18th,  shortly  after  noon,  we  passed  a  num- 
ber of  Talik-ong  Indians,  stretched  upon  the  green 
sward  of  the  right  bank  leisurely  enjoying  themselves  ; 
their  birch-bark  canoes,  sixteen  in  all,  being  pulled  up 
on  the  gravel  beach  in  front  of  them.  It  was  i)robal)ly  a 
trading  or  hunting  party,  there  being  one  person  for  each 
canoe,  none  of  whom  were  women.  Already  we  ob- 
served an  increase  in  the  size  and  a  greater  cumbrousness 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


243 


in  the  build  of  the  birch-bark  (uiuoes,  wlien  compared 
witli  the  fairy-like  craft  of  the  Ayaiis,  a  characteristic 
tliat  slowly  increased  as  we  descended  the  liver  until  the 
/»/«A',  or  sealskin  canoe  of  the  Eskimo  is  encountered 
along  the  lower  waters  of  the  great  liver.  Of  course 
this  change  of  bui><l  reflet  ts  no  discredit  u\)on  the  skill 
of  the  makers,  as  a  heavier  craft  is  required  to  navigate 


MOOSK-SKIN     IN'Ol-NTAlX,    AND     CAMP    32    AT  THE    MOITH    OP   PKKB 

RIVEK. 

the  rougher  water,  as  the  bioad  stream  is  stirred  up  by 
tlie  persistent  southern  winds  of  the  Yukon  basin. 

About  8.80  i».  M.  we  passed  an  Indian  camp  on  the 
left  bank,  which,  from  the  seeming  good  (pinlity  of  their 
canvas  tents  as  viewed  fi'om  the  river,  we  judged  might 
prove  to  be  a  mining  party  of  whites.  From  them  we 
learned  that  there  Avas  a  deserted  white  num's  store  but 


244 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


I 


a  few  miles  beyond,  but  that  the  trader  himself,  had 
quitted  the  place  several  months  before,  going  down  to 
salt-water,  as  they  expressed  it.  This  was  evidently  the 
same  trader  the  Ayans  elcpected  to  meet  at  a  little  semi- 
pernian{?nt  station  of  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company 
dubbed  Fort  Reliance  ;  and  they  seemed  quite  discom- 
fited at  his  dejDarture,  although  he  had  left  the  preced- 
ing autumn,  and  as  we  afterward  ascertained  more  from 
fear  of  the  Indians  in  his  neighborhood  than  any  other 
reason. 

We  camped  that  night  at  the  mouth  of  a  noticeable 
but  small  stream  coming  in  from  the  east,  which  we 
afterward  learned  was  called  Deiii-iirfitil^y  the  traders, 
from  the  large  number  of  caribou  or  woodland  reindeer 
seen  in  its  valley  at  certain  times  of  their  migrations. 

At  this  point  of  its  course  the  Yukon  River  is  extremely 
narrow  in  comi^arison  with  the  distance  from  its  head — 
about  700  miles, — and  considering  its  previous  mean 
width,  being  here  only  two  hundred  or  two  hundred  and 
fifty  yards  across.  It  certainly  must  have  great  depth 
to  be  able  to  carry  the  immense  volume  of  water  of  so 
swift  and  wide  a  river  as  it  is  above,  for  the  current  does 
not  seem  to  increase  appreciably  in  this  narrow  channel. 

Directly  northward  in  plain  sight  is  a  prominent  land- 
mark (m  this  i)art  of  the  river,  viz.,  a  high  hill  called  by 
the  Indians  "the  moose-skin  mountain."  Two  ravines 
that  converge  from  its  top  again  diverge  when  about  to 
meet  about  half  way  down  the  mountain  slope,  and 
along  these  two  arms  of  an  hyperbola  there  has  been  a 
great  landslide,  laying  bare  the  dull  red  ocherous  soil 
beneath,  which  contrasts  almost  vividly  with  the  bright 
green  of  the  f^rass  and  foliage  of  the  mountain  flanks  and 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS.  5>4r> 

in  shape  and  color  resembles  a  gigantic  moose-skin 
stretched  out  to  dry.  That  day's  drift  gave  us  forty- 
seven  and  a  half  miles,  and  all  our  scores  vvero  good 
while  passing  the  ramparts,  the  -delays  from  sand,  mud 
and  gravel  bars  being  very  small. 

Believing  that  I  was  now  in  close  proximity  to  the 
British  boundary,  as  shown  by  our  dead  rec^koning— kept 
by  Mr.  Homan, — I  reluctantly  determined  on  giving  a 
day  (the  19th  of  July)  to  astronomical  observations, — 
reluctantly  because  every  day  was  of  vital  importance  in 
reaching  St.  Michael's,  near  the  mouth  of  the  river,  in 
time  to  reach  any  outgoing  vessels  for  the  United  States  ; 
for  if  too  late  to  catch  them,  we  should  have  to  spend  a 
dismal  and  profitless  year  at  that  place.  That  day,  how- 
evei',  proved  so  tempestuous,  and  the  prospect  s(j  unin- 
viting, that  after  getting  a  couple  of  poor  "sights  "  for 
longitude,  I  ordered  camp  broken,  and  we  got  away 
shortly  after  eleven  o'clock. 

A  few  minutes  before  one  o'clock  we  passed  the 
abandoned  trading  station  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
river,  which  we  surmised  from  certain  maps  and  from 
subsequent  information  to  be  the  one  named  Fort 
Reliance.  It  was  a  most  dilapidated -looking  frontier 
pile  of  shanties,  consisting  of  one  main  house,  probably 
the  store,  above  ground,  and  three  or  four  cellar-like 
houses,  the  ruined  roofs  of  which  were  the  only  vestiges 
remaining  above  ground.  The  Indians  said  that  Mr. 
McQuestion,  the  trader,  had  left  on  account  of  severe 
sickness,  but  his  own  story,  when  we  met  him  afterward 
on  the  lower  river,  was  that  he  Avas  sick  of  the  Indians, 
the  main  tribe  of  which  were  peaceful  enough,  but  con- 
tained several  ugly  tempered  communistic  medicine-men 


246 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


who  had  threatened  his  life  in  ordei*  to  ^et  rid  of  his 
competition  in  the  drug  business,  which  resulted  greatly 
to  their  Jinancual  detriment. 

Nearly  opposite  Fort  Reliance  was  the  Indian  vilhige 
of  No()-klak-6,  or  Nuclaco,  numbering  about  one  hund- 
red and  fifty  people.  Our  approach  was  welcomed  by 
a  protracted  salute  of  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  dis- 
charges of  their  old  rusty  muskets,  to  which  we  re])lied 
with  a  far  less  number.  Despite  the  great  value  of  pow- 
der and  other  ammunition  to  these  poor  isolated  savages, 
who  are  often  obliged  to  make  journeys  of  many  hund- 
reds of  miles  in  order  to  procure  them,  and  must  often- 
times be  in  sore  need  of  them  for  hunting  purposes,  they 
do  not  hesitate  in  exciting  times — and  every  visit  of  a 
stranger  causes  excitement — to  waste  their  ammunition 
in  foolish  hangings  and  sillj'^  salutes  that  suggest  the 
vicinity  of  a  powder  magazine.  I  supi)ose  the  expendi- 
ture on  our  visit,  if  judiciously  employed  in  hunting, 
would  have  supplied  their  village  with  meat  for  probably 
a  month  ;  and  yet  we  drifted  by  with  hardly  a  response. 
This  method  of  saluting  is  very  common  along  the  river 
from  this  point  on,  and  is,  I  believe,  an  old  Russian  cus- 
tom which  has  found  its  way  thus  far  up  the  stream, 
which  is  much  beyond  where  they  had  ever  traded.  It 
is  a  custom  often  mentioned  in  descriptions  of  travel  fur- 
ther down  the  river.  The  permanent  number  of  inhab- 
itants, according  to  Mr.  McQuestion,  was  about  seventy- 
live  or  eighty ;  and  therefore  there  must  have  been  a 
great  number  of  visitors  among  them  at  the  time  of  oiir 
passing.  They  seemed  very  much  disax)pointed  that  we 
did  not  visit  their  village,  and  the  many  who  crowded 
around  the  drifting  raft  in  their  little  fleet  of  canoes 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


t47 


spoKe  only  of  tea  lind  tobsKJco,  for  whicli  tliey  seemed 
ready  to  baiter  tlieir  very  souls.  Their  i)riii('ii)al  diet  in 
summer  and  early  fall  is  furnished  by  the  salmon  of  the 
Yuk(m,  while  during  winter  and  sprin*;:,  until  the  ice 
disappears,  they  feed  on  the  flesh  of  moose  and  caribou. 
A  trader  on  the  upper  river  told  me  that  the  iee  of  the 
stream  is  removed  from  the  upper  rami)arts  and  above 
principally  by  melting,  while  all  that  covers  the  Yukcm 
below  that  part  is  washed  out  by  the  si)rin,uj  rise  of  the 
river,  there  bein<^  fully  a  month's  difference  in  the  mat- 
ter between  the  two  districts.  Noo-klak-o' was  a  semi- 
permanent village,  but  a  most  squalid-looking  affaii-, — 
somewhat  resembling  the  Ayan  town,  but  with  a.  mucli 
greater  preponderance  of  canvas.  Most  of  the  native 
visitors  we  saw  were  Tanana  Indians,  and  I  was  some- 
what surprised  to  find  them  ])ut  the  accent,  in  a  bioad 
way,  on  the  second  syllable,  7^n-)i(ih'-m'(\  diffeiing 
radically  from  the  ]>ronunciation  of  the  same  name  by 
the  Indians  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  by  most  white 
travelers  of  the  I^ower  Yuk(m,  Fnmi  this  point  a  trail 
leads  south-westward  over  the  mountains  to  a  tributary 
of  the  Tanana,  by  means  of  which  these  Indians  visit 
Noo-klak-o,  The  10th  was  a  most  disagreeable  day,  with 
alternating  rain  showers  and  drifting  fog,  which  had  fol- 
lowed us  since  the  day  of  our  failure  in  securing  astro- 
nomical observations,  and  to  vary  the  discomfort,  after 
making  less  than  thirty  miles  we  stuck  so  fast  on  the 
upper  point  of  a  long  gravel  bar  that  we  had  to  carry 
our  effects  ashore  on  our  backs,  and  there  cam])  with 
only  half  a  dozen  water-logged  sticks  for  a  cam]>-tire. 
What  in  the  world  any  musqui  ^  wanted  to  do  out  on  that 
desert  of  a  sand-bar  in  a  cold  drifting  fog  I  could  never 


248 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


ima«;ine,  but  before  our  beds  were  fairly  made  they  put 
in  an  appeai-ance  in  the  usual  unlimited  numbers  and 
made  sleep,  after  a  hard  day's  work,  almost  impossible. 

Starting  at  8:10  a.m.,  next  morning,  from  Camp  33,  at 
11:30  we  passed  a  good  sized  river  coming  in  from  the 
west,  whit'h  [  named  the  Cone-Hill  River,  from  the  fact 
that  there  is  a  prominent  conical  hill  in  the  center  of  its 
broad  valley,  near  the  mouth. 

Just  beyond  the  mouth  of  the  Cone-Hill  River  we 
suddenly  came  in  sight  of  some  four  or  five  black  and 
brown  bears  in  an  open  or  untimbered  s])ace  of  about  an 
a'Te  or  two  on  the  steep  hillsides  of  the  western  slope. 
The  raft  was  left  to  look  after  itself  and  we  gave  them  a 
running  volley  of  skirmish  lire  that  sent  them  scamper- 
ing up  the  steep  hill  into  the  dense  brush  and  timber, 
their  principal  loss  being  loss  of  breath.  By  not  attend- 
ing to  the  navigation  of  our  craft  in  the  excitement  of 
the  short  bear  hunt  we  ran  on  a  submerged  rock  in  a 
current  so  swift  that  we  swung  around  so  rapidly  as 
almost  to  throw  a  number  of  us  overboard,  stuck  for  a 
couple  of  minutes  with  the  water  boiling  over  the  stern, 
and  in  general  lost  our  faith  in  the  ability  of  our  vessel 
to  navigate  itself.  Tn  a  previous  chapter  I  have  men- 
tioned having  been  told  by  a  person  in  southern  Alaska, 
undoubtedly  conscientious  in  his  statement,  and  having 
considerable  experience  as  a  hunter,  that  the  black  and 
brown  bear  of  his  district  never  occupied  the  same 
localities,  and  although  the  sequence  of  these  localities 
might  be  as  promiscuous  as  the  white  and  black  squares 
on  a  checker-board,  yet  each  species  remained  wholly  on 
his  own  color,  so  to  speak  ;  and  this  led  him  to  believe 
that  tne  weaker  of  the  two,  the  black  bear,  had  good 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


M» 


reason  to  be  afraid  of  his  more  ])owerf ul  neighbor.  This 
day's  ol)servation  of  tlie  tw<>  species  living  togetlier,  in 
one  very  small  area,  shows  eitiier  an  error  of  judgment 
on  the  part  of  the  observer  mentioned,  or  a  difference  of 
the  ursine  nature  in  different  regions. 

After  leaving  the  Stewart  River,  which  had  been  iden- 
tified by  a  soi't  of  reduvtio  ad  absiudum  reasoning,  I 
found  it  absolutely  impossible  to  identity  any  of  the 
other  streams  from  the  descriptions  and  niai)s  now  in 
existence,  even  when  aided  by  the  imperfec*;  information 
derived  from  the  local  tribes.  Indianne,  my  Chilkat- 
Talik-heesh  interpreter,  got  along  very  well  among  the 
latter  tribe.  Amonj;'  the  Ayans  were  numy  who  spoke 
Talik-heesh,  with  whom  they  traded,  and  here  we  had 
but  little  trouble.  Even  lower  down  we  numaged  to  get 
niong  after  a  fashion,  for  one  or  two  of  the  Ayan  medi- 
cine-men who  came  as  far  as  Port  Reliance  with  us, 
could  occasionally  be  found,  and  they  understood  the 
lower  languages  pretty  fairly,  and  although  we  struggled 
through  four  or  five  tongues  we  could  still  make  out 
tluit  tea  and  tobaccu)  were  the  leading  topics  of  conver- 
sation everywhere.  Beyond  Fort  Relinnce,  and  after 
bidding  adieu  to  our  four  Ayans,  we  were  almost  at  sea, 
but  occasionally  in  the  most  roundabout  way  we  man- 
aged to  elicit  information  of  a  limited  character. 

About  the  middle  of  the  afternoon  of  that  day,  the 
20th,  we  floated  past  a  remarkable-looking  rock,  stand- 
ing conspicuously  in  a  flat  level  bottom  of  the  river  on 
the  eastern  side,  and  very  prominent  in  its  isolation.  I 
could  not  but  notice  the  strong  resemblance  between  it 
and  Castle  Ro(;k  on  the  Columbia  River,  although  I 
judge  it  to  be  only  about  one-half  or  two-thirds  the  size 


UM 


250 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


of  die  latter,  but  much  more  prominent,  not  being  over- 
shadowed by  near  and  higher  mountains.  I  called  it  the 
Roquette  Rock,  in  honor  of  M.  Alex,  de  la  Roquette, 
of  the  Paris  (ieographical  Scciety.  The  Indians  have  a 
legend  connected  with  it,  so  it  is  said,  that  the  Yukon 
River  once  tlowed  along  the  distant  hills  back  of  it,  and 
that  the  rod  formed  purt  of  the  bl  uif  seen  in  the  illus- 
tration just  below,  overhanging  the  western  shore  of 
the  river,  both  being  about  the  same  height  and  singu- 


UOQUETTE    KOCK. 
(As  we  Hpproiched  looking  down  the  Htream.) 

larly  alike  in  other  respects.  Here  th^-  hi  lift'  and  rock 
lived  many  geological  periods  in  w  'Ided  bliss  as  man 
and  wife,  but  finally  family  dissen  ions  invaded  the 
rocky  lioiisehold  and  culminated  in  the  stony-hearted 
luisband  kicking  his  wrangling  wife  into  the  center  of 
the  distant  plain,  and  changing  the  course  of  the  great 
river  so  that  it  flowed  between  them  to  emjihasize  the 
perpetual  di\oi'ce.     The  bluff  and  the  rock,  so  my  in- 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


251 


formant  told  me,  are  still  known  among  the  Indians  as 
"the  old  man"  and  "  tlie  old  wife."  Desjnte  a  most 
disagreeable  day,  on  the  20th  we  showed  a  record  of 
forty-live  geograi)liical  miles,  by  w^ay  of  ('omi)ensation 
for  the  dark  lowering  clouds  that  hung  over  IIS  I'ke  a  pall. 
The  scenery  passed  that  day  would  have  been  pic^turesque 
enough  when  viewed  through  any  other  medium  than 
that  of  a  wretched  drizzle  of  rain.  Just  before  camp- 
ing we  saw  high  perpendicular  bluffs  of  what  appeared 
to  be  limestone,  frowning  over  us  from  the  eastern 
shore,  which  were  jjerforated  with  huge  caverns  that 
would  have  made  good  dens  for  bears,  but  their  situation 
was  such  that  no  bears  not  i)ossessing  wings  could  have 
reached  them.  On  the  map  this  bluff  ligures  as  Cave 
Kock. 

AVe  got  a  late  start  on  the  21  st,  tlie  wretched  wejither 
being  good  for  late  sleeping  if  for  nothing  else,  the  mid- 
dle of  the  forenoon  finding  us  just  pulling  out.  At 
noon  we  passed  a  good-sized  river  coming  in  from  the 
east,  but  if  it  had  been  ma])ped  we  were  unable  to  iden- 
til'y  it.  A  few  minutes  afterward  we  swung  around  a 
shaip  bend  in  the  river  and  saw  a  confused  mass  of 
bi'ush  or  logs  that  denoted  an  Indian  village  in  the  dis- 
tance, a  siii)position  coujirmed  ])y  the  number  of  canoes 
afloat  in  its  front  and  by  a  motley  crowd  of  luitives  on 
the  bank,  well  mingled  with  the  inevitable  troop  of  dogs 
that  to  the  eye  of  the  experienced  traveler  is  as  sure  a 
sign  of  an  Indian  village  as  botli  Tiidians  and  liouses 
together.  This  was  the  first  Indian  vilhige  we  had  en- 
coiuitered  on  the  river  deserving  the  name  of  perma- 
nent, iind  even  here  tht>  h)gs  of  which  the  cabins,  six 
in  number,  were  built,  seemed  to  be  mere  poles,  and  by 


253 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


no  means  as  substantially  Iniilt  as  it  might  have  been 
with  the  matei'ial  at  hand.  It  was  peiclied  n])  on  a  higli 
fiat  bank  on  the  western  side  of  the  river,  the  gable  ends 
of  the  house  fronting  the  stream,  and  all  of  them  very 
close  together,  there  being  only  one  or  two  ;  laces  wide 
enongh  for  a  path  to  allow  the  inmates  to  i)ass.  The 
fronts  of  the  liousesare  nearly  on  the  same  line,  and  this 
row  is  so  close  to  the  scarp  of  the  bank  that  the  "street" 
in  front  is  a  very  narrow  i>ath,  where  two  persons  (,'an 
hardly  pass  unless  one  of  them  stej)s  indoois  or  down 
the  hill ;  and  when  I  visited  the  village  the  road  was 
so  monopolized  by  scratching  dogs  that  I  could  hardly 
iovre  my  wav  through  them.  This  street  mav  have  been 
much  wider  in  times  of  yore— for  it  seemetl  to  be  quite 
an  old  village — and  the  encroachments  of  the  eroding 
river  <Iuring  freshets  may  have  reduced  it  to  its  present 
nan-owness.  If  so,  it  will  not  be  long  before  the  present 
village  must  be  abandoned  or  set  back  some  distance. 
Further  up  the  river  we  saw  a  single  pole  house  ])i'o- 
jecting  over  the  bank  about  a  fourth  or  a  third  of  its 
length,  and  deserted  by  its  occupants.  I'he  body  of  the 
houses  is  of  a  very  inferior  ccmstruction,  in  which  ven- 
tilation seems  to  be  the  predominating  idea  (although 
even  this  is  not  developed  to  a  sufhcdent  degree,  as 
Judged  by  one's  nose  upon  entering),  and  the  large  door 
in  front  is  roughly  closed  by  a  well-riddled  moose  or 
caribou  skin,  or  occasionally  by  a  jnece  of  canvas  so 
dirty  that  at  the  distance  of  a  few  feet  it  might  be 
taken  for  an  animars  skin.  The  roofs  are  of  skins 
battened  down  by  spruce  poks,  which,  i)i'oJecting  beyond 
the  comb  in  iri'egular  lengths,  often  six  and  eight  feet, 
^ave  the  whole  village  a  most  bristling  appearance.     A 


I!  'l 


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THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


255 


fire  is  built  on  the  dirt-floor,  in  the  center  of  the  hab- 
itation, and  the  smoke  left  to  get  out  the  best  way  it  can. 
As  tlie  occupants  are  generally  sitting  flat  on  the  floor, 
or  stretched  out  at  full  length  on  their  backs  or  stom- 
achs in  the  dirt,  they  are  in  a  stratum  of  air  compara- 
tively clear ;  or,  at  least,  endurable  to  Indian  lungs. 
Tlie  ascending  smoke  flnds  ample  air-holes  among  the 
upper  cradsLs  of  the  walls,  while  that  dense  mass  of  it 
which  is  retained  under  the  skins  of  the  roof,  making  it 
almost  impossible  to  stand  upright,  is  utilized  for  smok- 
ing the  salmon  which  are  hung  up  in  this  space.  The 
Indian  name  of  the  village  is  Klat-ol-klin',  but  it  is  gen- 
erally known  on  the  Middle  River  as  Johnny's  Village, 
after  the  chief's  Americanized  name.  That  dignitary 
was  absent  on  a  journey  of  several  days  down  the  river, 
it  the  time  of  our  arrival. 

A  number  of  long  leaning  poles,  braced  on  their  down- 
hill ends  by  cross  uprights,  Avere  noticed  on  the  gravel 
bea(;h  in  front  of  the  village  ;  these  serve  as  scaffoldings 
upon  which  to  dry  salmon  in  the  sun,  and  to  keep  them 
from  the  many  dogs  while  undergoing  this  procn^ss. 
While  taking  a  ])h()iograph  of  the  town,  two  or  three 
salmon  fell  from  the  poles  ;  and  in  a  twinkling  fully 
sixty  or  seventy  dogs  were  huddled  together  about  them 
iu  a  writhing  mass,  each  one  trying  to  get  his  sluuv. — and 
that  of  several  others.  The  camera  was  sighted  toward 
them,  a  hurried  gu«^ss  made  as  to  the  proper  focus,  and 
an  instantaneous  view  attemjtted,  but  the  negative  looked 
more  like  a  representation  of  an  approaching  thunder 
shower,  and  I  never  afterward  printed  frcmi  it.  Occasion- 
ally in  these  rushes  a  row  of  scaffolding  will  be  knocked 
down,  and  if  it  hai>pens  to  be  loaded  with  salmon  the 


256 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


1     I 

I 


consequent  feast  yf\\\  be  of  a  more  extensive  nature. 
These  dogs  were  of  a  smaller  breed,  and  noticeably  of  a 
darker  color,  than  the  Eskimo  dogs  of  the  lower  river. 
They  are  employed  by  these  Indians  for  the  same  pur- 
poses, but  to  a  more  limited  extent. 

It  was  at  this  village  that  what  to  me  was  the  most 
wonderful  and  striking  performance  given  by  any  natives 
we  encountered  on  the  whole  trip  was  displayed.  I  refer 
to  their  method  of  fishing  for  salmon.  I  have  already 
spoken  of  the  extreme  muddiness  of  the  Yukon  below 
the  mouth  of  the  White  River;  and  this  spot,  of  course, 
is  no  exception.  I  believe  I  do  not  exaggerate  in  the  h-ast 
when  I  say,  that,  if  an  ordinary  pint  tin-cuj)  were  filled 
with  it,  nothing  could  be  seen  at  the  bottom  until  the  sed- 
iment had  settled.  The  water  is  about  nine  or  ten  feet 
deep  on  the  fishing  banks  in  front  of  the  houses,  where 
they  fish  with  their  nets  ;  or  at  least  that  is  about  the 
length  of  the  poles  to  which  the  nets  are  attached.  The 
salmon  I  saw  them  take  were  caught  about  two  bundled 
or  two  hundred  and  fifty  yards  directly  out  from  the  shore 
in  front  of  the  houses.  Standing  in  front  of  this  roAv  of 
cabins,  some  person,  generally  an  old  man,  squaw  or 
child,  i)ossibly  on  duty  for  that  purjiose,  would  an- 
nounce, in  a  loud  voice,  that  a  salmon  was  coming  up  the 
river,  perhaps  from  a  quarter  to  a  third  of  a  mile  away. 
This  news  would  stir  uj)  some  young  man  from  the 
cabins,  who  from  his  elevated  position  in  front  of  them 
would  identify  the  salmon's  position,  and  then  run  down 
to  the  bea»  li,  pick  up  his  canoe,  x^addle  and  net,  launch 
the  former  and  start  rapidly  out  into  the  river  ;  the  net 
lying  on  the  canoe's  birch  deck  in  front  of  him,  his 
movements  being  guided  by  his  own  sight  and  that  of  a 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


257 


half  dozen  others  on  the  high  bank,  all  shouting  advice  to 
him  at  the  same  time.  Evidently,  in  the  canoe  he  could 
not  judge  well  of  the  fish's  position,  especially  at  a  dis- 
tance ;  for  he  seemed  to  rely  on  the  advice  from  the 
shore  to  direct  his  movements  until  the  fish  was  near 
him,  when  with  two  or  three  dexterous  and  i)owerful 
strokes  with  both  hands,  he  shot  the  little  canoe  to  a 
point  near  the  x)osition  he  wished  to  take  up,  regulating 
its  finer  movements  by  the  paddle  used  as  a  sculling 
oar  in  his  left  hand,  while  with  his  right  he  grasped 
the  net  at  the  end  of  its  handle  and  plunged  it  into 
the  water  the  whole  length  of  its  pole  to  the  bot- 
tom of  the  river  (some  nine  or  ten  feet) ;  often  lean- 
ing far  over  and  thrusting  the  arm  deep  into  the 
water,  so  as  to  adjust  the  mouth  of  the  net,  covering 
about  two  square  feet,  directly  over  the  course  of  the 
salmon  so  as  to  entrap  him.  Of  seven  attempts,  at 
intervals  covering  three  hours,  two  were  successful  (and 
in  two  others  salmon  were  caught  but  escaped  while  the 
nets  were  being  raised),  salmon  being  taken  that  weighed 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  pounds.  How  these  Indians  can 
see  at  this  distance  the  coming  of  a  single  salmon  along 
the  l)ottom  of  a  river  eight  or  ten  feet  deep,  and  deter- 
mine their  course  or  position  near  enough  to  catch  them 
in  the  narrow  mouth  of  a  small  net,  when  immediately 
under  the  eye  a  vessel  holding  that  number  of  inches  of 
water  from  the  muddy  river  completely  obscures  an  ob- 
ject at  its  bottom,  is  a  problem  that  I  will  not  attempt  to 
solve.  Their  success  depends  of  course  in  some  way  on 
the  motion  of  the  fish.  In  vain  they  attemi)ted  to  sliow 
members  of  my  party  the  coming  fish.  I  feel  perfectly 
satisfied  that  none  of  the  white  men  could  see  the  slight- 


258 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


est  trace  of  the  movements  to  wliieli  their  attention  was 
called.  Under  the  skin  roofs  of  their  log-cabins  and  on 
the  scalfolilings  uj^on  the  gravel  beach  were  many  hund- 
red salmon  that  had  been  caught  in  this  curious  way. 
The  only  i)lausible  theory  which  I  could  evolve  within 
the  limits  of  the  non-marvelous,  was,  that  the  snlmon 
came  along  near  the  top  of  the  water,  so  as  to  show  or 
indicate  the  dorsal  fin,  and  that  as  it  api)roached  the 
canoe,  the  sight  of  it,  or  more  likely  some  slight  noi  se, 
made  with  that  intention,  drove  the  lish  to  the  bottom 
without  any  considerable  lateral  deviation,  whereuiion 
they  were  inclosed  by  the  net.  But  my  interpreters  told 
me  (and  I  think  their  interi)retation  was  correct  in  this 
case,  roundabout  as  it  was),  that  this  superficial  swim- 
ming did  not  take  place,  but  that  the  motion  of  the  lish 
was  communicated  from  the  deep  water  to  the  surface, 
often  when  the  lish  was  quite  at  the  bottom. 

The  nets  used  have  already  been  partially  desciibed. 
The  mouth  is  held  open  by  a  light  wooden  frame  of  a 

leniform  shape,  as  shown  in  the 
figure  on  this  page,  and  as  one 
mayreaciiy  see,  this  is  of  gioat 
advantage  in  securing  the  handle 
lirmly  by  side  braces  to  the  rim 
of  the  net's  mouth  as  shown,  that 
being    undoubtedly    the    object 


KLAT-OL-KI,lN   FI.SIIINO  NETS. 

Scale,  1-30. 


sought.     Further  down  the  river 


(that  is,  in  the  "lower  ram- 
parts"), the  reniform  rim  becomes  circular;  thus  of 
course  increasing  the  chances  of  catching  the  fish  ;  all 
the  othor  dimensions,  too.  are  greatly  increased.  AVlicn 
the  salmon  is  netted,  a  tuin  is  immediately  given  to  the 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


259 


HALMON-KILLING  CI.UB. 


handle,  thus  effectual  J  y  trai)ping  the  fish  below  the 
mouth  of  the  net,  and  upon  the  dexterity  thus  displayed 
no  little  of  the  fisherman's  success  depends.  Two  sal- 
mon wei'e  lost  upon  this  occasion  after  they  had  actually 
l)assed  into  the  net,  owing  to  lack  of  agility  in  this  opera- 
tion. When  fully  entrai)ped 
and  brought  alongside,  a  fish-  ^ 
chib,  as  shown,  is  used  to  kill 
the  salmon  immediately  by  a 
hard  blow  over  the  head,  for  the  struggles  of  so  large 
a  fish  might  easily  upset  a  frail  canoe. 

Up  to  this  time  the  birch-bark  canoes  on  the  river  had 
been  so  fragile  and  "  cranky  "  that  my  Chilkat  Inilians, 
who  were  used  to  the  heavy  wooden  canoes  of  their  coun- 
try, felt  unsafv?  in  employing  them  for  all  i)uri)oses,  but 
these  were  so  nuich  larger  and  stronger  in  build,  and  our 
old  Tahk-heesh  "dug-out"  so  thoroughly  worthless, 
that  we  felt  safe  in  buying  one  at  this  village,  but  for  a 
number  of  days  "Billy"  and  "Indianne"  paddled  very 
gingerl  y  when  making  excursicms  in  it. 

A  few  Hudscm  Bay  toboggan  sledges  were  seen  on 
scaffolds  at  and  near  the  village  ;  they  seem  to  be  the 
principal  sledges  of  this  part  of  the  country.  The  snow 
shoes  of  this  tribe  differed  from  those  of  the  Cliilkatsby 
trifling  modifications  only,  being  a  sort  of  comi)r(>mise 
between  the  hunting  and  packing  snow  shoes  of  the 
latter. 

About  a  mile  or  a  mile  and  a  quarter  below  Klat-ol- 
klin',  jind  on  the  same  side  of  the  river,  is  a  fairly  con- 
structed white  man's  log  cabin,  which  had  once  been  used 
as  a  trading  store,  but  was  now  deserted.  We  afterward 
learned  that  this  trading  station  was  called  Belle  Isle, 


860 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


and  liad  only  been  built  two  years  before,  having  betjn 
abandoned  tiie  preceding  year  as  not  paying.  The  In- 
dians evidently  must  have  surmised  that  the  trjider 
would  return,  as  they  respected  the  condition  in  wliich 
he  left  the  building,  in  a  manner  most  creditable  to  their 
honesty,  no  one  liaving  entered  or  disturbed  it  since  he 
left.  They  evidently  (rare  very*little  for  l)eads  as  oi'iin- 
ments,  for  I  saw  none  of  them  wearing  that  much  cov- 
eted Indian  adornment,  w'.iile  great  quantities  were 
scattered  around  by  the  trader's  store,  liaving  been 
trampled  into  the  ground.  At  no  place  on  the  river  did 
I  find  such  an  eagerness  for  beads  as  characterizes  the 
American  Indians  of  milder  climes,  i  it  nowhere  did  I 
see  such  total  disregard  for  them  as  was  sliown  here. 

Near  Belle  Isle  is  a  prominent  hill  called  by  the  In- 
dians 7\t-tot-7r(\  its  consi)icuousness  heiglitened  by  tlie 
comparative  flatness  of  the  country  which  lies  between 
two  entering  rivers  and  a  great  bend  of  the  Yukon.  As  our 
survey  showed  it  to  be  just  within  Alaska,  bordering  on 
the  boundary  between  it  and  the  British  Northwest  Terri- 
tory, I  gave  it  the  additional  name  of  Boundary  Butte. 

The  country  was  now  noticeably  more  open,  and  it  was 
evident  that  we  had  already  passed  the  most  mountainous 
portion  of  the  chain,  the  intersection  of  which  by  the 
river  forms  the  upper  ramx)arts. 

The  next  day  we  made  thirty- six  miles,  and  as  the 
wliole  day  had  been  a  most  disagreeable  one  when  at  six 
o'clock  we  got  drawn  into  an  eddy,  near  which  was 
a  fair  place  to  camp,  I  ordered  the  raft  made  fast  and  the 
tents  pitched. 

That  day — the  22d — while  under  way,  we  saw  a  large 
dead  king-salmon,  floating  belly  upwards  with  the  cur- 


THROUGH  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


2»1 


rent,  and  we  kept  near  it  for  some  time.  This  spectacle 
became  more  familiar  as  we  descended,  while  everywhei-e 
we  met  with  the  rou<i;h  coarse  do^-salmon  strewn  u])on 
the  heach,  frequently  in  such  numbers,  and  taintiiiu-  the 
air  so  strongly  with  the  odor  of  their  decay,  that  an 
otherwise  good  camp  would  be  spoiled  by  their  presence. 


MOUNT   TA-TOT  -LKE,  OR    nOUN'PAKY    lU  ITE. 

(Also  i^howing  Middle  Yukon  Kiver  Indians'  methodM  of  killing  tiwiniraing  mooge.^ 

The  river  rose  ten  inc^hes  that  night— a  fact  easily 
accounted  for  by  the  i)rotracted  and  often  heavy  rains. 
The  forenoon  of  the  2:kl  was  very  gloomy,  but  shortly 
after  no(m  the  weather  surj)rised  us  by  clearing  up. 


lili 


262 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


At  3:30  that  day  we  cjiihh  upon  smotluM-  Indian  town 
calh'd  (^liarley's  Villa^^e;  but  the  curirnt  was  so  swift 
that  wt?  could  not  yet  (he  raft  u^)  to  the  bank  so  as  to 
i'Minp  alongside,  but  we  were  successful  in  nuikin;;-  a 
san<l-bur  about  ludf  a  mile  below.  Charley's  Villa;;?e  was 
an  exact  counterpart  of  Johnny's,  even  Jis  to  tlie  number 
ol"  houses — six — and  the  side  of  the  river — the  westein  ; 
and  consifh'riny  this  and  the  trouble  to  reach  it,  I  did  not 
attempt  to  photo;L?raph  it.  ^Vhen  attempting  to  reach  it 
with  the  raft,  so  anxious  were  the  Indians  for  our  success, 
that  as  many  as  could  do  so  put  the  bows  of  their  canoes 
on  tlui  outer  log  of  the  raft,  and  paddled  forward  with 
as  \n\\v\\  vehemen<^e  as  if  their  very  lives  dei)ended  upon 
the  result.  In  three  or  four  minutes  they  had  woikcd 
themselves  into  a  streaming  perspiration,  and  had 
probal)ly  shoved  the  huge  rnft  as  many  inches  towjiid 
the  baidv.  We  found  a  Canadian  voyagenr  Jimong  them 
of  the  name  of  Jo.  Ladue,  who,  as  a  ])artner  of  (me  of  tlic 
traders  on  the  lower  rivei',  h;i<l  drifted  here  in  prospecting 
the  stream  for  ])recious  mineral.  '*  .lo,"  as  he  is  familinily 
known,  si)eaks  of  the  nativ<^s  of  both  tliese  vilhiges  iis 
Tadoosh,  and  says  they  are  the  best-natured  Indians  from 
here  till  the  Eskimo  are  met  with.  Ladue  had  a  fairlv- 
made  scow  over  twenty  feet  long,  about  half  a  dozen 
Avide,  and  three  deep,  which  he  wanted  to  hire  us,  but 
as  it  would  not  hold  all  the  pnrty  and  effects  w-e  had  to 
decline  the  tender,  despite  his  emi)hatic  assurances  that 
we  coidd  not  safely  go  much  further  with  our  raft.  It 
was  with  Ladue  that  I  first  noticed  i>{irtioularly  the  pro- 
nunciation of  the  name  of  the  great  river,  on  whose  wjiteis 
we  were  drifting,  a  pronunciation  which  is  univcrsnl 
among  the  few  whites  along  its  borders,  and  that  sounded 


Til  nova  H  THE  UPPER  RAMPARTS. 


M8 


sti':iii,L!;t'Iy  at  lirst  ;  fliaf  is  with  the  jM-ccnt  <ni  fiic  lirst 
sylliible,  and  not  on  the  stToiid.  iis  I  luid  s(»  iisiuill y  lu'unl 
it  pronounced  in  the  I'uiled  States.  TliMt  ni^Mit,  tlie^lM, 
the  mosquitoes  were  iteil'ectly  uniH'urahle  in  their 
assaults,  nnd  if  tlie  weather  had  not  turned  bitterly  cold 
toward  uiornin<;"  I  doubt  if  we  could  have  obtained  any 
sleej)  at  all,  lor  the  mosquito-bars  seemed  to  be  no  i)ro- 
t<;ction  whatever. 

I  think  I  established  one  mosquito  theory  of  a  practical 
bearin<^-,  on  a  pretty  firm  basis,  while  ui)on  this  trip  "in 
the  land  of  the  mosquito's  paradise;"  atwl  that  was,  if 
the  insects  are  so  thick  that  thev  constant Iv  touch  each 
other  on  the  mosquito-bar  when  crawling-  over  it,  it  will 
be  no  protection  whatever,  if  the  meshes  are  of  the  usual 
size,  and  they  will  come  in  so  fast  tUat  comfort  is  out  of 
the  ([uestion,  but  otherwise  there  is  some  chance  Avhich 
increases  as  tlieir  numbers  diminish.  Even  if  there  are 
two  or  three  to  the  sqiuire  inch  of  your  l)ar  of  many 
square  yards,  it  surprises  you  liow  few  <>et  through,  but 
the  minute  they  be<i:in  crawlin<i:  over  each  other  they 
seem  to  become-  furious,  and  make  efforts  to  squeeze 
throiti^h  the  meshes  which  are  often  I'ewarded  with  suc- 
cess, until  a  sharp  slap  on  the  face  sounds  their  deatli 
knell.  The  doctor,  in  a  fit  of  exas])eration,  said  lie 
believed  that  two  of  them  woidd  hold  the  legs  and  wings 
of  another  iia^igainsLiLs_)>ody,  while  a  third  shoved  it 
through ;  but  I  doubt  tlie  existence  of  co-opei-ation 
among  them.     I  think  they  are  too  mean  to  help  one 


another  ^  ^  ■ 


d  ir 


U-i^Li.'   ^n'-'-.i^if^i^^  JY'^^f,  u/*^    nZ<i-t.0\'^, 


•H.^J 


i-L-UX^I 


k 


i*-C 


'3 


/^'^// 


CHAPTER  X. 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  FLAT-LANDS. 


'/•uii^'"-^ 


AFTER  passin*,^ 
Johnny's  village  in 
d  e  s  c  ending  t  li  e 
stream,  and  more 
perceptibl  y  aiter 
leaving  Charley's  vil- 
hige,  the  ''onntry 
opens  rapidly,  and 
another  day's  drift 
of  forty-two  and  a 
half  geograi)lii('al 
miles  brought  ns  to 
what  an    old  trader 


on  the  lower  river  cdIIs  the  "  Y^ikon  flat-lands,"  an 
«5Xprf.-!  lion  so  iippro])riate  that  I  have  adopted  it. 
although  I  have  never  heard  any  other  authority  for 
its  use. 

"'AHiile  descending  the  stream  on  the  24th,  late  in  the 
forenoon,  Ave  saw  a  lai'ge  Imek  niocsse  swim  from  one  of 
the  many  islands  to  the  ma  inland  just  back  of  ns,  having 
Ijrobably,  as  t]»e  hunter  would  say,  ''gotten  our  scent." 
I  never  comprehended  wliat  immense  noses  these  animals 
have  until  I  got  a  good  profile  view  of  this  big  fellow, 
and  althcngh  over  half  a  nule  away,  his  nose  looked  as 
if  he  had  been  rooting  the  island  and  was  trying  to  carry 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  FLAT-LANDS. 


265 


iiway  the  greater  part  of  it  on  the  end  of  his  snout.  Tlie 
great  palmated  horns  above,  the  broad  "throat-latch" 
before,  combined  with  tlie  huge  nose  and  powerful 
shoulders,  make  one  think  that  this  animal  might  tilt 
forward  on  his  head  from  sheer  gravity,  so  little  is 
there  apparently  at  the  othe'  end  to  counterbalance 
these  masses.  When  the  Russians  were  on  the  lower 
river  these  moose-noses  were  dried  by  them  and  con- 
sidered great  delicacies.  A  few  winters  ago  tlie  cold  Avas 
so  intense,  and  the  snow  covered  the  ground  for  so  great 
a  depth  throughout  the  seas(in,  that  sad  havoc  was 
played  with  the  unfoitunate  animals,  and  a  moose  is  now 
a,  rare  sight  below  the  upper  ramparts  of  the  river,  as  I 
was  informed  by  the  traders  of  that  district.  It  is  cer- 
tainly  to  be  hoped  that  the  destructi(m  has  only  been 
])artial,  so  that  this  noble  gjime  may  again  Houiish  in  its 
home,  Avhere  it  will  be  secur<'  from  the  iui'oads  of  lire- 
arms  for  many  decades  to  come.  Not  h)ng  since  the 
little  river  steamer  that  ])lies  on  tliis  stream  foi- ti'adiiig 
])ur])oses.  owned  by  the  Alaska  Commercial  ('om})any, 
could  hardly  make  a,  voyage  to  <)1(1  Port  Yukon  and 
back  Av'ithout  encountering  a  few  lu^ids  of  these  aninuds 
swimming  across  the  stream,  and  exciiing  were  the 
bouts  with  them,  often  ending  in  a  victory  for  the 
moose  with  the  "  Yukon"  run  aground  on  a  bai-  of  sand 
or  gravel;  but  for  some  years  not  an  animal  has  been 
seen  by  them.  Formerly  the  meat  they  secured  in  this 
way,  with  what  they  procured  fiom  the  Indians  along 
the  river,  assured  them  of  fresh  food  duiing  the  month 
or  so  they  weie  absent  from  St.  Michael's  :  bnt  their 
entire  de|)endence  for  this  kind  of  fare  has  been  thrown 
upon  the  salmon    furnished    l)y  the   natives,   which    is 


1 


If 


1:1 


it 


366 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GRKAT 


niiich  more  ditfi<'iilt  to  keej)  I'lvsli  diirin^'^  tlit'  (sliort  liot 
summer  of  the  river. 

This  river  steamer,  fhn  •  Yukon,"  was  dfe#y  njpi  fted 
by  ''Jo"  Liidiie,  and  ii])(m  it  he  intended  to  retiini  to 
Nukhikjiyet,  his  winter  station.  I  also  lioped  to  l':dl  in 
wit'hi  it  during  the  next  week,  as  our  civilized  provisions 
were  at  a  very  low  ebb  and  I  wished  to  replenish  tlifni. 
I)urin<i;  a  great  part  of  our  diil't  on  the  24th,  we  were 
accompanied  by  Jo  and  his  thive  Indian  allies,  in  their 
scow,  who  said  they  would  kee])  ^-^  C(>m])aiiy  until  we 
met  the  "  Yukon"  steamer.  V\'hile  wh  whiv  iHisuidy 
floating  along,  "Jo"  saw  a  '"sliort  cut"  in  th*'  rrvfr's 
bend,  into  wlii<'h  we  could  not  row  our  \><>m\*-r<mn  craft, 
and  down  this  hequic^kly  disa])peared,  rnwarkinx  that  f»e 
woidd  pick  outa  good  camping  place  i(ir  us  for  th**  niglii . 

Although  we  were  well  out  of  the  liigh  nu^untainotis 
country,  we  could  see  the  chain  through  which  wc  li;'d 
passed  still  bearing  olf  to  the  left,  the  summits  in  many 
j^laces  covered  with  snow,  long  fingers  of  which  extended 
down  such  mountain  gullies  as  had  a  northern  exposure. 
As  weemerg<;d  from  the  hilly  country  the  soil,  foj-  the  first 
time,  seemed  to  be  thick  and  black  wherever  it  was 
exposed  to  our  eye  by  the  caving  in  of  the  baid^s  ;  and 
grass,  always  good,  now  became  really  luxuriant  foi-  any 
climate.  Tn  many  j)la(!es  we  saw  grass  ready  to  mow,  v.erc 
It  not  for  the  fact  that  even  the  largest  ^)rairieshave  an 
undergrowth  of  stunted  bi'ush  wliich  one  might  not 
observe  at  a  distance  in  the  high  grass,  but  which  is  very 
perceptible  in  walking  thvough  it.  The  greatest  obstacle 
to  cattle  raising  in  tlie  Yukon  valley  would  be  the  dense 
swanns  of  mosquito(»s,  although  I  understand  that  a 
couple  of  head  of  cattle  were  kept  at  old  Fort  Yukon  for 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  FLAT-LANDS. 


267 


one  or  two  summers.  By  burning  off  all  timber  and 
brush  from  large  districts  and  a  little  judicious  drainage 
it  might  be  possible  to  eucouiagn  this  industry  with  the 
hardier  breeds  of  cattle,  but  at  present  the  case  is  too 
remote  to  speculate  upon. 

I  now  remarked  in  ni-uiy  i)laces  along  the  fiat  river-bot- 
toms— which  had  high  l)anks,  however — that  the  ground 
was  covered,  especiall^v  iu  little  open  prairies,  with  a  tough 
sponge-like  moss  or  peat.  If  the  bank  was  at  all  gra' clly, 
so  as  to  give  good  drainage,  and  to  allow  of  the  river 
excavating  it  grailually,  as  is  usual  in  teuii)e)'ate 
climes,  this  thick  luoss  was  so  interwoven  and  com- 
pacted that  it  would  not  break  or  sei)arate  in  falliug 
with  the  river  banks,  but  remained  attached  to  the  crest, 
forming  great  blankets  of  nu)ss  that  overhung  the  shores 
a  foot  thick,  as  T  have  endeavoi'ed  to  represent  on  this 
page,  (I.  h.  representing  the  nu)ss.  Some 
of  these  banks  were  from  iit'teen  to 
eighteen  feet  in  height,  and  this  over- 
hanging moss  would  even 
then  reach  to  the  watt^i', 
keeping  the  shores  neatly 


MOSS  OS  ITKCiN  ItlVER. 

sodded  to  the  water's  ^H\\fk^  on  the  inclined  banks,  and 
hanging  i)erpendicidarly  from  those  tjiat  pi'ojected  over, 
(rreat  jagged  rents  and  pat<'hes  wei-e  lorn  out  of  the 
hem  of  this  carpet  by  the  limbs  and  roots  of  drifting 
logs,  thus  destroying  its  pictures(pie  Muii'ormity.  I 
sn))])ose  the  reason  wiiy  it  was  more  noticeable  in  ojx'U 
spaces  was  that  the  trees  and  underbrush,  and  especially 
tlicir  roots,  would,  from  the  eifect  of  undermining,  cany 
the  moss  into  the  water  with  their  heavy  weight  as  they 
fell. 


1 1 

■  '■  Hi  i 


i 


tik    -i: 


268 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


At  half -past  five  o'clock  we  sighted  a  steamer  down 
the  river  which  we  tlionght  might  be  the  Alaska  Com- 
mercial Company's  "Yukon"  coming  iq)  aronnd  alow 
island  of  sand,  but  it  proved  to  be  a  beached  boat  called 
the  St.  Micliael's,  ly^ng  high  and  dry,  about  ten  or  twelve 
feet  above  tlie  present  water  level,  on  a  long,  low  island 
of  sand  and  gravel. 

Some  years  before,  a  rival  (corporation  to  the  Alaska 
Company,  called,  I  be'.ieve,  The  Northern  Trading  Com- 
pany, tried  to  establish  itself  on  the  Yidvon  River,  (and 
elsewhere  in  Alaska,  but  the  Yukon  district  only  con- 
cerns us  here),  and  tiading  houses  were  built  in  many 
X)laces  ak)ng  the  sti-eam,  most  of  them  within  a  shoit 
distance,  perhaps  a  ndle  or  two,  of  those  established  by 
the  Alaska  Commercial  Comi)any.  Fierce  competition 
ensued,  and  I  was  told  that  the  Indians  got  goods  at 
wholesale  prices  in  San  Fi-ancisco,  /.  c,  at  almost  inlini- 
tesimal  pi-ices  compared  with  those  they  were  accus- 
tomed to  pay.  The  Alaska  Company  w^as  iinally  victori- 
ous, but  found  matters  considerablv  changed  when  the 
struggle  was  over.  When  tliey  attempted  to  restore  the 
prices  of  tlie  old  rrf/ime,  and  to  ask  immediate  payment 
— for  both  companies  Juid  ,;iveu  the  lu'^iars  unlimit^'d 
credit — such  a  hornet's  nest  was  stiried  uj)  that  ulti- 
mately the  company  was  obliged  to  abandon  nearly  a 
half  dozen  posts,  all  above  Nuklakayet.  for  fear  of  the 
Indians,  who  required  a  Krupj)  steam-hammer  to  pound 
into  their  thick  heads  the  reason  why  a  man  might  sell 
them  a  pound  of  tobacco  for  ten  cents  to-day  and  to-mor- 
row charge  them  ten  dollars  an  ounce  ;  (^specially  ^^hen 
they  have  to  pay  for  the  latter  from  t])H  products  of  the 
trap,  and  the  former  is  put  down  in  the  account  book  in 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  FLAT  LANDS. 


269 


an  accommodating  way  The  Northern  Trading  Com- 
pany also  put  on  the  Yukon  River  this  boat,  tlie  St. 
Michael's,  a  clumsily-built  stern-wheeler  that  had  win- 
tered at  Belle  Isle,  and  on  going  down  with  the  spring 
freshet  had  struck  this  bar,  then  underwater,  and  as  the 
river  was  falling  she  was  soon  left  high  in  the  air. 

We  camped  for  the  night  on  the  same  bar,  which  I 
called  St.  Michael's  Island,  Jind  about  an  hour  afterward 
''Jo"  and  his  scow  came  along  and  pulled  uj)  to  camp 
on  the  opposite  shore.  He  explained  his  delay — for  I 
really  thought  he  had  passed  us  and  was  camping  furtlier 
down — by  saying  that  he  and  his  Indians  had  been  hunt- 
ing, and  he  produced  two  or  three  ducks,  in  the  very 
prime  of  their  toughness,  as  corroborative  testimony,  but 
I  surmised  that  the  true  story  was  that  "all  hands  and 
the  cook"  had  gone  to  sleep,  whereupon  the  scow  had 
likewise  rested  on  the  soft  bottom  of  some  friendly  sand - 
ppit.  The  remainder  of  the  journey  confirmed  this  sus- 
picion. 

Starting  from  Camp  No.  3R,  on  St.  Michael's  Island, 
the  river,  as  the  map  shows,  becomes  one  vast  and  wide 
net-work  of  islands,  tlie  whole  country  being  as  level  as 
thii  great  plains  of  the  West,  and  we  were  fairly  laiuK^hed 
into  the  "  Yukon  fiat-lands,"  As  we  entered  this  floor- 
like country  our  Chilkat  Indians  seeiiu'(l  seriously  to 
think  that  we  had  arrived  at  the  river's  mouth  and  were 
now  going  out  to  sea  ;  and  I  can  readily  iiuagine  that  even 
a  white  person,  having  no  knowledge  of  the  country, 
might  well  think  so.  There  was  an  almost  iriesistibleiin- 
])ression  that  beyond  the  low  fiat  islands  in  front  one 
must  come  in  sight  of  the  ocean. 

As  we  started  out   into   this  broad,  level  tract,  the 


t 


fW%' 


i  ';im, 

'■'■fl 


i.i^''^^'^' 


ipp 


270 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


mountains  to  the  left,  or  west,  still  continued  in  a  bro- 
k<}n  range  that  was  tliiown  back  at  an  angle  from  the 
river's  general  course,  and  projected  into  a  sort  of  spur 
formed  of  a  series  of  isohitcid  peaks,  rising  squarely  out 
of  the  Ihit  land,  and  diminishing  in  size  until  they  dis- 
ai)i)eared  toward  the  north-west  in  a  few  sharp-pointed 
hillocks  just  visible  over  the  higli  spruce  trees  of  the 
islands.  1  cnllfd  them  the  Ratzel  range,  or  peaks,  after 
Professor  Frederick  Ratzel,  of  Munich. 

This  Hat  chai-acter  of  the  country  continues  for  about 
three  hundred  miles  fuither,  and  the  river,  unconlined 
by  resisting  l)anks,  cuts  numerous  wide  channels  in  the 
soft  alluvial  shores,  dividing  and  subdividing  and  spiead- 
ing,  until  its  width  is  simply  beyond  reasonable  estima- 
tion. At  Fort  Yukon,  about  a  tliousatid  nules  fr<mi  the 
mouth,  its  width  has  been  closely  estimate'd  at  seven  miles, 
and  at  other  j^oints  above  and  below  it  is  believed  to  be 
twic<>  or  thrice  that  width.  This  breadth  is  measured 
from  the  right  bank  to  the  left  across  shallow  chan- 
nels and  Mat  islands,  whose  ratio  to  each  otlu'r  is,  on  the 
whole,  tolerably  eipial.  Some  of  these  islands  are 
merely  wide  wastes,  consisting  of  low  stretches  of  sand 
and  gravel,  with  desolate-looking  I'idges  of  whitened 
drift-timber,  all  of  which  must  be  under  water  in  the 
spring  Hoods,  when  the  ?'iver  in  this  region  must  resem- 
ble a  great  inland  sea.  In  no  place  does  this  wide  con- 
geries of  v'hannels  seem  to  abate  its  former  swiftness  a 
singh^  jot,  but  the  constant  dividing  and  subilividing 
occasi.mally  brought  us  to  Lines  so  narrow  and  shallow 
that  it  sec  ~.ied  as  though  Ave  could  not  get  through  with 
our  raft,  and  more  than  once  we  feared  we  should  have 
to  al)andon  our  old  C()mi)anion.     For  nearly  three  weeks 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  FLAT  LANDS. 


271 


we  wera  di'if  tin^  through  these  terribly  monotonous  fiat- 
lands,  never  Ivnowing  at  night  whether  or  not  we  were 
camping  on  the  main  banli,  and  by  far  the  most  fre- 
quently camxjing  on  some  island  with  nothing  but  islands 
in  sight  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see. 

On  the  25th  we  got  under  way  quite  early,  and  at  8:30 
A.  M.  passed  an  Indian  encampment  of  four  very  line- 
looking  tents,  situated  on  an  island,  and  here  ",Io'* 
Ladue  told  us  he  w^ould  stop  and  await  the  arrival  of  the 
Alaska  Company's  new  steamer.  I  had  suspicions  that 
"  Jo"  did  not  like  the  pace  we  kept  up,  or  rather  that 
he  did  not  relish  being  awakened  whenever  his  scow 
sought  the  quiet  of  an  island  shore. 

But  a  few  minutes  afterward  there  was  a  junction  of 
several  (channels  of  the  river,  and  we  floated  out  into  the 
lake-like  expanse  ahead  with  a  vague  feeling  that  so 
much  water  could  hardly  possess  any  current,  but  never- 
theless we  sped  along  at  our  old  pace.  This  sheet  of 
water  was  wider  than  the  majority  of  the  lakes  at  the 
head  of  the  stream,  an<l  it  was  hard  not  to  revert  to  them 
in  thought,  and  imagine  ourselves  unable  to  move  with- 
out a  sail  and  a  good  wind  abaft.  Very  soon  an  omin- 
ous line  of  drift  timber  ap[)eared  in  our  front,  seeming 
to  stretch  from  shore  to  shore  as  we  approached  it,  and 
the  great  cluuinel  broke  up  into  lialf  a  dozen  smaller 
ones  that  went  windinu'  through  sand-spits  and  log- 
locked  debris,  down  one  of  which  we  shot  and  were  just 
breathing  more  freely  when  the  same  occuirence  was 
repeated,  and  we  slipped  down  a  shallow  branch  that 
was  not  over  fifty  yards  in  width,  only  to  bring  up  on  a 
bar  in  the  swift  current,  with  less  than  a  foot  of  water 
ahead  over  the  spit  thtit  ran  from  the  bar  to  tl>e  shore. 


272 


ALOXa  ALASKA'S  (JliJ'JAT  HI V Eli. 


Near  the  oIIm!!'  .slioro  was  a  channel  ho  deep  tliat  we 
Mii^lit  have  lloatcd  with  ease,  but  to  reach  it  again  we 
.shoiihl  hav«!  to  pry  our  vessel  ii[>  stream  against  waterso 
Hvvil't  as  almost  to  take  us  off  our  I'eet.  Througli  tliis 
deep  channel  (jvery  thing  was  carried  on  our  l)a(;ks  to  the 
shore,  and  tiien  <;oninien(HKl  a  struggle  that  lasted  from 
ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  well  past  two  in  the 
afternoon ;  our  longest  and  most  trying  delay  on  the 
trip,  and  which  limited  our  day's  travel  to  thirty-six 
miles  In  fourteen  hours'  work.  Half  as  much  would 
have  satisfied  us,  however,  for  I  think  it  was  the  only 
tim<;  on  the  trip  when  we  made  sei'ious  calculations  re- 
garding the  abandonment  of  the  raft  and  the  building  of 
J-  nother.  There  were  other  occasions  when  su(!h  an  event 
seemed  ])iobable,  but  in  some  way  we  had  managed  to 
escape  this  necessity. 

Our  camp  that  evening  was  on  a  bank  so  high  and 
solid  that  we  conjectured  it  must  be  the  main  bank  (of 
the  eastern  side).  So  steeji  was  it  that  steps  had  to  be 
<'ut  in  it  in  order  to  reach  the  top  with  our  canix)ing  and 
cooking  effects. 

At  this  (Uimp — ;J0 — and  a  few  of  the  preceding  ones 
we  found  rosebuds  large  and  sweet  enough  to  eat,  and 
really  a  palattible  (change  from  the  salt  and  canned  ]>ro- 
visions  of  our  larder.  They  were  very  much  larger  than 
those  we  are  accustomed  to  see  in  the  United  States 
proper  and  somewhat  elongated  or  pear  shaped  ;  tlie 
inci'ease  in  size  being  entirely  in  the  fleshy  capsule  w^hicli 
was  crisp  and  tendei",  whil«»  even  the  seeds  seemed  to  be 
less  dry  and  ''downy,"  or  full  of  "cotton,"  than  those 
of  tem[)erate  climes. 

The  mosquitoes  were  a  little  less  numerous  in  the  flat- 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  FLAT-LANDS. 


273 


lands,  but,  at  lirst,  the  little  l)hi('k  <j:imts  seeined  to  ^row 
even  worse.  Mr.  lloinan,  wlio  was  especially  troubled 
by  these  latter  pests,  liad  liis  hands  so  swollen  by  their 
c<mstant  attacks  that  lie  could  hardly  drnw  his  lingers 
together  to  grasp  the  pencil  with  which  he  recorded  his 
toi)()graphical  notes.  Dr.  Wilson  and  I  experimented 
with  some  oil  of  pennyroyal  taken  from  the  medicine 
chest,  which  is  extensively  used  as  an  important  ingred- 
ient of  the  mosquito  cures  advertised  in  more  southern 
climes.  It  is  very  volatile  and  evaporates  so  rapidly 
that  it  was  only  efficacious  with  the  pests  of  the  Yukon 
for  two  or  three  minutes,  when  they  would  attack  the 
sjjot  where  it  had  been  spread  with  their  old  vigor. 
Mixed  with  grease  it  held  its  properties  a  little  longer, 
but  would  never  do  to  dex)end  iij^on  in  this  mosquito 
Infested  country. 

T  noticed  that  evening  that  banked  or  cumulus  clouds, 
lying  low  along  the  horizon  invariably  indicated  mount- 
ains oi'  hills  stretching  under  them  if  all  the  other  i>arts 
of  the  sky  were  clear.  At  that  time  we  recognized 
the  Romantzoff  range  by  this  means,  bearing  north- 
west, a  discovery  we  easily  verified  the  next  moining 
when  the  air  was  clear  in  every  direction.  At  no  time 
while  we  were  drifting  through  the  Hat-lands,  when  the 
weather  and  our  position  were  favorable,  were  hills  or 
mountains  out  of  view,  although  at  times  so  distant  as 
to  resemble  light  blue  clouds  on  the  horizon. 

Although  we  were  at  the  most  northern  part  of  our 
journey  while  in  this  level  tract,  actually  passing  within 
the  Arctic  regions  for  a  short  distance  at  old  Fort  Yukon, 
yet  there  was  no  part  of  the  journey  where  we  suffered 
so  much  from  the  downpouring  heat  of  the  sun,  when- 


1 

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874 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


ever  the  weather  was  clear  ;  and  exasperatiiigly  enough 
our  greatest  share  of  clear  weather  was  while  we  were 
floating  between  the  upper  and  lower  ramparts. 

All  day  on  the  2Gth  the  current  seemed  to  set  to  the 
westward,  and  we  left  island  after  island  upon  our  right 
in  spite  of  all  our  eiforts,  for  we  wanted  to  keep  the 
extreme  eastern  channels  so  as  to  make  old  Fort  Yukon, 
where  we  had  learned  that  an  Indian,  acting  as  a  trader 
for  the  Alaska  Company  might  have  some  flour  to  sell. 
Our  most  strenuous  efforts  in  the  hot  sun  were  rewarded 
by  our  stranding  a  number  of  times  on  the  innumerable 
shoals  in  tlie  shallow  river,  delaying  us  altogether  nearly 
three  hours,  and  allowing  us  to  make  but  thirty-three 
miles,  our  course  bringing  us  almost  in  proximity  to  the 
western  bank.  I  knew  that  we  must  be  but  a  short  dis- 
tance from  old  Fort  Yukon,  at  which  point  I  intended  to 
await  the  river  steamer' s  arrival  so  as  to  procure  provis- 
ions, for  I  had  only  two  days'  rations  left;  but  this  day 
had  been  so  unfavorable  that  I  almost  gave  up  all  hope 
of  making  the  Fort,  expecting  to  drift  by  next  day  far 
out  of  sight  of  it.  About  eleven  o'clock  that  night 
"  Alexy,"  the  half-breed  Russian  interpreter  for  Ladue, 
came  into  our  camp  in  his  canoe,  saying  that  Ladue  had 
gone  on  down  to  Fort  Yukon  that  day,  keeping  the  main 
right-hand  channel  which  we  had  missed,  and  that  we 
were  now  so  far  to  the  west  and  so  near  Fort  Yukon  that 
we  might  pass  it  to-morrow  among  the  islands  without 
seeing  it  unless  we  kept  more  to  the  right.  After  receiv- 
ing this  doleful  information,  which  coincided  so  exactly 
with  our  own  conclusions,  we  went  to  sleej),  and 
"  Alexy''  paddled  away  down  stream,  keeping  a  strong 
course  to  the  east,  but  it  would  have  requiieu  Great  East- 


THRO  ran  the  yukox  flat- lands. 


275 


«rn's  enfifines  on  hoaitl  of  our  (Munhersoni*'  raft  in  order 
for  us  to  nuike  it. 

From  tlie  moment  of  our  oastin<;  loose  the  raft,  on  tlie 
morning  of  the  27tli,  we  commenced  oui*  struggle  witii  the 
current  to  gain  ground,  or  rather,  water,  to  th(^  eastward, 
often  witii  double  and  treble  complements  of  men  at  both 
oars.  Point  after  point  we  successfully  essayed,  working 
like  pirates  after  their  prey  ;  and  fully  a  half  dozen  of 
these,  I  believe,  were  so  closely  passed  across  their  upper 
ends  that  a  score  less  of  strokes  would  have  allowed  us  to 
float  down  the  western  channel.  Almost  at  the  last  min- 
ute we  got  such  a  straight  away  course  to  the  right  bank 
that  looking  backward  it  seemed  as  if  we  liad  ferried  our 
way  directly.across  the  river,  and  as  we  rounded  the  last 
island  Fort  Yukon's  old  dilapidated  buildings  burst  into 
view,  in  the  very  nick  of  time,  too,  for  that  particular 
island  extended  well  below  the  site  of  the  old  fort,  and 
we  passed  around  it  hardly  a  good  hop,  skip  and  a  jump 
from  its  upper  point.  We  could  not  suppress  a  cheer 
as  the  hard-earned  victory  wjis  won,  for  to  verify  the  old 
adage  that  "it  never  rains  but  it  j)ours"  good  luck,  there 
at  the  bank  was  the  river  steamer  "  Yukon"  and  fnmiher 
decks  came  a  rattling  volley  of  shots  to  welcome  us  and 
to  which  we  replied  almost  gun  for  gun.  A  little  more 
hard  pulling  and  we  landed  the  raft  just  above  the  build- 
ings and  about  three  or  four  hundred  vai'ds  above  the 
steamer,  which  we  at  once  prepared  to  visit.  The  "Y'u- 
kon"  !  i[uitea  small  affair  comi)are(l  with  the  river  boats 
of  th<>  United  States,  but  quite  well  built  and  well  mod- 
eled, rh  'y  spoke  of  it  as  a  ten-ton  boat,  although  I 
took  it  io  be  one  of  double  or  treble  that  capacity,  its 
machinery  being  ])owerful  enough  to  drive  a  vessel  of 


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73  WEST  MAIN  STREET 
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(716)87a-4S03 


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S76 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


five  or  six  timtis  tlisit  tonnaye  against  any  ordinary  cur- 
rent, but  very  n(M;essary  for  a  l)oat  of  even  tlie  .smallest 
size  on  suc^li  a  swift  stream  as  the  Yukon.  The  machin- 
ery took  u^)  the  greater  i)ort ion  of  her  interior  and  were  it 
not  for  the  upper  decks,  it  would  have  been  difficult  to 


TUB  STBAMKR    "  YTKOX,"    (jV    A    HERD   OF   MOOSE). 

(A  Bccno  in  the  Yiiknn  Flat-lan(1».) 

find  room  for  her  large  crew.  The  moment  I  caught 
sight  of  the  crew  they  seemed  so  like  old  acquaintancres 
that  I  was  on  the  point  of  i)robing  niy  memory  for  the 
circumstances  of  our  former  meeting,  when  a  second 
thought  convinced  me  that  it  was  only  my  familiarity 
with  the  Eskimo  face  that  had  ]»roduced  the  effect  of  a. 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  FLAT  LANDS. 


277 


recognition.  These  Eskimos  had  been  hired  on  tlu'  I.ower 
Yukon,  and  but  for  their  being  a  little  more  stolid  and 
homely  than  those  of  north  Hudson's  Hay,  1  should 
have  thought  myself  back  among  the  tribes  of  that  region. 
They  make  better  and  more  tra<;table  workmen  than  any 
of  the  Indians  along  the  river,  and  in  many  other  ways  are 
superior  to  the  latter  for  the  white  men's  jxirposes,  being 
more  honest,  ingenious  and  clever  in  the  use  of  tools, 
while  treachery  is  an  unknown  element  in  their  <'haractHr. 
The  miister  of  the  "  Yuk<m"  was  Captain  Petersen,  and 
the  Alaska  Comi)any's  trailer  was  Mr.  McQuestion,  both 
of  whom  had  been  for  many  years  in  the  employ  of  that 
company  on  the  river.  From  the  former  I  ascertained 
through  information  which  he  volunteered,  that  he  had 
a  large  ten  or  twelve  ton  river  schooner  at  the  trading 
station  of  Nuklakayet,  some  thre<'  hundred  miles 
further  down  tlie  river  to  which  T  was  welcome  when  I 
reached  that  point  with  the  raft.  After  the  "  Yuk(m  *' 
had  ascended  the  rner  us  far  as  He)le  Isle,  he  w(»uld 
return  and  wouhl  pick  ns  up  wherever  roun<l  and  tow  the 
scho(mer  or  harka  as  it  was  called  in  the  local  language 
of  the  country,  a  sort  of  hybrid  Uussian  vernacular. 
Prom  long  experientre  on  the  river,  (Captain  Petersen 
estimated  its  current  at  about  five  miles  an  hour  aluive 
old  Fort  Yukon  for  the  short  distance  which  he  had  as- 
cended with  the  steamer ;  but  probably  four  from  there  to 
Nuklakayet ;  three  and  a  half  to  Nulato  :  and  three  be- 
low that  until  theinfluenceof  the  low  tides  from  Hering  s 
Sea  is  felt.  Of  course  this  rate  of  speed  vari»'s  somewhat 
with  the  season,  but  is  the  average  during  the  ]»eriod  of 
navigation  in  July  and  August,  lie  exi>ected  to  over- 
take me  about  the  loth  of  August  somewhere  near  Nul- 


878 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


ato,  as  he  had  orders  to  pull  the  St.  Michael's  oflf  the 
gravel  bar  where  slie  was  lying,  the  Alaska  Commercial 
Company  having  bought  out  all  the  effects  of  the  rival 
concern  after  the  latter  had  expended  between  half  a 
million  and  a  million  of  dollars  without  any  reasonable 
remuneration  for  tlie  outlay.  Tliis  the  captain  thought 
would  detain  him  a  week  or  ten  days,  and  if  I  could  get 
as  far  as  Nulato,  or  Anvik,  it  would  save  him  towing  the 
*'barka"  that  far  on  its  way  to  St.  Michael's  or  "the 
redoubt,"  as  they  all  call  it  on  the  river.  Thus  we 
should  be  doing  each  other  a  mutual  favor.  The 
"barka,"  however,  had  none  of  its  sails,  except  a  jib, 
and  this  circumstance,  coupled  with  the  head  winds  that 
we  should  be  sure  to  encounter  on  the  lower  river  at  this 
season,  reduced  us  to  find  our  motive  power  still  in  the 
current.  Provisions  were  purchased  in  sufficient  quantity 
to  last  as  far  as  Nuklakayet,  where  we  could  select  from 
a  much  more  varied  stock. 

Our  dead  reckoning,  as  checked  by  the  astronomical 
observations,  showed  the  distance  from  the  site  of  old 
Fort  Selkirk  to  Fort  Yukon  to  be  four  hundred  and 
ninety  miles,  and  two-tenths,  (400.2) ;  and  the  entire  dis- 
tance of  the  latter  place  from  Crater  Lake,  at  the  head 
of  the  river,  nine  hundred  and  eighty-nine  (989)  miles ; 
the  raft  journey  having  been  twelve  miles  less.  In  run- 
ning from  Pyramid  (Island)  Harbor  of  Chilkat  Inlet,  the 
last  point  we  had  left  which  had  been  determined  by  as- 
tronomical instruments  of  precision,  to  Fort  Yukon,  the 
next  such  i)oint,  a  distance  of  over  a  thousand  miles, 
Mr.  Iloman's  dead  reckoning,  unchecked  the  whole  dis- 
tance, was  in  eiTor  less  than  ten  miles  ;  and  from  Fort 
Selkirk,  determined  by  sextant  and  chronometer — the 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  FLAT  LANDS. 


279 


latter  regulated  between  the  above  two  i)laces — to  Fort 
Yukon,  the  error  was  less  than  six  miles.  At  this  point 
we  connected  our  surveys  with  the  excellent  one  given 
to  the  lower  river  by  Captain  Raymond  in  1809  ;  although 
we  continued  our  own  as  far  as  the  Aphoon,  or  northern, 
mouth  of  the  Yukon  Ri^'er. 

When  Russian  America  became  Alaska,  or  to  be  pre- 
cise, in  1867,  that  dat«  found  the  Russians  established  as 
traders  only  on  the  lower  river  a  considerable  distance 
below  the  flat-lands,  while  in  1848  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany had  established  Fort  Yukon  within  their  territory, 
a  port  which  they  were  still  maintaining.  Upon  our  ac- 
cession, it  was  determined  to  fix  the  position  of  Fort 
Yukon  astronomically,  and  if  it  should  i)rove  to  be  on 
Alaskan  soil — west  of  the  141st  meridian — the  Hudson 
Bay  Comi)any  employes  would  be  notified  to  vacate  the 
premises.  This  was  done  by  Captain  Raymond  in  1809. 
In  the  course  of  this  occupation  a  good  map  of  the 
Yukon  River  was  tinwl*^  frrwn  jf*^  iTmntli  to  For^  Yukon, 
which  was^piiiiliahed  by  the  WaK-D^partment,  acctmi^- 
panied  by  a  report.  With  this  it  may  be  said  that  the 
results  of  the  expedition  ceased,  as  that  department  of 
the  government  does  not  publish  and  sell  maps  made  un- 
der its  direction,  and  they  therefore  are  practically  de- 
prived of  cir(uilation.  Wlien  I  asked  Captain  Petersen 
if  he  used  maps  in  navigating  the  river,  he  said  that  he 
seldom  did,  as  there  were  no  good  ones  in  existence  for 
the  permanent  channels  of  the  river,  while  the  temporary 
channels  were  so  variable  that  his  old  maps  were  of  lit- 
tle service.  He  had  never  heard  of  the  Raymond  map 
being  published,  and  on  being  shown  one,  seemed  aston- 
ished that  so  good  a  maj)  was  in  existence,  and  asked  me 


W 


280 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


to  send  him  a  copy,  wliich  I  was  unable  to  do,  as  I  could 
not  [irocure  one  at  the  proper  department  in  W'vshing- 
ton.  'IMie  maps  he  had  were  those  made  by  the  Russians 
wiien  tliey  were  in  possession  of  the  country,  which  are 
still  tlie  l)est  of  sucli  as  can  be  i)rocured. 

The  Indians  in  and  around  old  Fort  Yukon  are  known 
to  the  traders  as  the  Fort  Yukon  Indians,  whicli  isprob- 
al)ly  as  good  a  name  as  any,  as  tliey  are  not  entitled  to 
be  regarded  as  a  distinct  tribe  (or  even  as  part  of  one),  in 
the  ordinary  acceptation  of  tlie  word.  Tlie  country  of 
the  fiatlands  is  not  well  sto<^ked  with  game  of  the  kind 
thiit  would  supi)ort  any  great  number  of  Indians  at  all 
seasons,  and  as  the  river  spreads  over  so  wide  an  extent, 
the  chances  of  catching  tish  are  proportionately  de- 
creased, and  altogether  the  Hat-lands  would  be  rejected 
by  the  natives  for  other  locations.  I  was  told  by  tliase 
who  ought  to  know,  and  whose  asserticms  seem  to  be 
borne  out  by  other  evidence,  that  there  were  no  Indians 
who  made  this  country  their  lumie  until  Fort  YuVon  was 
estal)lisiied  in  1848,  an  event  which  attracted  the  usual 
number  of  Indians  around  the  post  who  are  always  seen 
about  a  frontier  ti-ading  station,  nuiny  of  wlumi  made  it 
their  home.  They  came  up  the  river,  down  the  nuiin 
stream,  and  down  the  great  tributary,  the  Rat  or  Porcu- 
pine River  wliic^h  empties  itself  near  the  fort,  so  that 
the  settlement  was  recruited  by  stragglers  from  se\  eral 
tribes,  and  it  was  for  this  reason  that  I  Mj)oke  of  them  as 
not  being  a  distinct  tribe.  The  Indian  who  assumed  the 
role  of  chief,  Senati,  as  he  is  called  by  the  white  peo- 
ple, a  savage  of  more  than  ordinary  authority  and  deter- 
mination, came  from  the  lower  ramparts  where  there  ex- 
ists a  village  bearing  his  name,  which  he  still  visits. 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  FLAT-LANDS. 


281 


Since  the  abandonment  of  the  post  by  the  Alaska  Com- 
pany, his  for(!e  of  character  has  done  much  to  liold  to- 
gether the  handful  of  natives  that  still  cling  to  the  old 
spot ;  but  with  his  death  and  the  desertion  of  the  i)lace 
by  white  traders  this  part  of  the  river  w  ill  soon  return 
to  its  former  wildness.  When  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany came  upon  the  river  at  the  point  where  they  built 
this  fort,  they  felt  safe  from  the  encroaclimrnts  of  the 
Russians,  although  trespassing  upon  Russian  soil,  as  the 
Yukon  was  supposed  to  flow  northward,  and,  like  the 
Ma(;kenzie,  to  pour  its  waters  into  the  polar  sea.  Old 
mai)s  may  still  be  found  bearing  out  this  idea,*  the  Col- 
ville  being  pressed  into  service  as  the  cimjectural  continu- 
ation of  the  Yukon  into  the  Arctic  portion  of  Ahiska. 

The  27th  and  28th  were  occupied  in  taking  observations 
to  rate  and  correct  the  chronometer,  much  of  the  first 
day  being  spent  in  company  with  the  officers  of  the  boat, 
who  recounted  their  interesting  adventures  on  the  river 
and  its  adjacent  regions,  in  which  tiieir  lives  had  been 
spent.  T  recall  an  episode  of  Mr.  McQuesticm's  early 
life  which  so  well  illustrates  the  extriiordiniiiy  vigor  of 
the  Toyagcurs  of  the  Hudson  Hay  Conipjiny  in  the 
British  north-west  territory  that  1  shall  brietiy  repeat  it. 
His  boyhood  was  spent  in  the  northern  peninsula  of 
Michigan  and  the  states  and  tei-ritories  to  the  westward, 
until  finally  he  found  himself  at  old  Fort  (Jaiiy,  then  an 
important  y>ost  of  the  Hudson  Bay  C<mii>a]iy.  Here  he 
was    brought  into  constant  r-ontact  with  the  restless 


*  As  late  as  1883,  a  fine  fflobe  lieariiipr  that  date,  costiiif,'  some 
hundreds  of  dollars,  was  received  by  the  American  (Jeogiaphical 
So<.Mety  from  a  London  firm,  which  still  bears  this  enor,  corrected 
over  twenty  years  ajfo. 


2»2 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


voyageurSy  and  from  them  he  imbibed  miu-li  of  their 
adventurous  spirit,  and  was  imbued  with  a  longing  to 
visit  the  far  north  land  of  which  they  spoke.  He  heard 
of  Athabasca  as  other  lads  might  hear  of  California  and 
Mexico  and  Peru,  while  the  Mackenzie  and  Yukon 
resembled  to  his  imagination  some  fabled  El  Dorado  or 
Ahiddin's  dream.  He  longed  to  see  these  lands  for 
himself,  but  he  knew  the  hard  work  the  voyageurs  were 
compelled  to  endure.  He  had  seen  the  bundles  and  bags 
and  boxes  of  a  hundred  pounds  that  they  were  to  carry 
on  their  backs  around  rapids  too  swift  to  pole  or  "track," 
and  over  the  many  portages  and  exchanges  on  their  long 
journeys.  He  knew  he  was  not  equal  to  the  work 
required,  but  with  the  enthusiasm  of  youth  he  deter- 
mined to  make  himself  equal  to  it  by  a  course  of  physical 
training,  and  after  several  months  presented  himself  to 
an  agent  of  the  company  as  a  fuli -fledged  noyageur.  To 
his  delight  he  was  accei)ted  and  entered  on  their  books 
at  a  monthly  salaiy,  that  probably  being  the  least  im- 
portant part  to  him  at  the  time.  The  first  party  which 
started  northward  in  the  spring  included  young 
McQuestion  in  its  number,  the  most  enthusiastic  of  all. 
Days  wore  on  and  much  of  his  enthusiasm  was  repressed 
by  the  hard  experiences  of  the  journey,  but  it  was  by  no 
means  destroyed.  In  a  few  days  the  other  rioyageurs 
began  talking  of  the  great  portage,  where  every  thing, 
canoes  included,  had  to  be  carried  on  their  backs  around 
the  swift  rapids,  and  wishing  that  their  task,  the  hardest 
they  had  to  encounter  in  tlie  northern  regions,  was  well 
over.  McQuestion  rather  regarded  it  in  the  light  of 
variety,  as  a  break  from  the  monotony  of  weary  paddling 
over  still  and  "  tracking  "  through  swift  water.     At  last 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  FLAT  LANDS. 


289 


the  lower  end  of  the  great  portage  was  reached  at  a  small 
cascade,  and  as  the  great  canoe  in  which  tlie  young 
ooyageur  was  paddling  was  nearly  at  tlie  lower  end  of 
the  line,  he  could  plainly  see  the  indications  ahead. 
The  canoes  came  up  and  landed  at  the  little  rocky  ledge, 
their  one  hundred  pound  bundles  were  thrown  out  on  the 
bank,  high  and  dry,  and  the  canoe  itself  was  dragged 
from  the  water  to  make  room  for  the  next.  McQuestion 
saw  the  chief  of  the  canoe  throw  a  bundle  on  the  first 
comer's  back,  and  exj)ected  to  see  him  start  off  over  the 
trail  to  the  upper  end  of  the  portage,  said  to  be  ten  or 
twelve  miles  across,  and  running  through  a  tanglewood 
with  all  kinds  of  obstructions  occurring  the  whole  way. 
As  the  man  did  not  start  oflf,  however,  McQuestion 
watched  eagerly  for  the  reason,  and  was  astonished  to 
see  the  chief  put  a  second  bundle  of  a  hundred  pounds 
upon  the  other  for  the  packer  to  carry,  a  load  under 
which  he  expected  to  see  the  poor  fellow  stagger  or  fall. 
He  did  not  fall,  however,  nor  even  stagger,  but  wheeled 
in  his  tracks  and  started  off  at  a  good  sharp  run,  and 
disappeared  over  the  hill.  In  a  few  minutes  he  reap- 
peared on  the  crest  of  another  hill,  still  maintaining  his 
rapid  gait,  and  with  half  a  dozen  others  following  him 
on  the  trail,  with  each  carrying  the  same  weight,  and 
proceeding  at  the  same  gait.  His  hecrt  sank  within  him, 
and  as  he  climbed  the  ledge  of  rock  he  felt  almost  like  a 
criminal  on  the  way  to  execution.  He  received  liis  two 
bundles,  started  off,  and  managed  to  keep  up  his  gait 
over  the  crest  of  the  nearest  hill,  when  he  fell,  spread 
out  at  full  length  over  the  first  log  he  attempted  to  cross. 
He  returned  to  the  factor  in  charge  of  the  expedition, 
and  a  compromise  was  made  by  which  he  paid  to  that 


ril 


284 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


functionary  the  amount  per  month  he  was  to  have 
received  in  order  to  a<MH)m])any  the  party  iw  a  passenger. 
At  one  of  the  northern  jwsts  he  obtained  a  situation 
more  to  liis  liking,  and  thus  drifted  into  the  company's 
employ,  finally  crossing  over  to  the  Yukon  River,  and 
transferring  his  allegiance  to  the  Alaska  Company  when 
it  succeeded  his  old  masters.^  o  '^^ 

On  the  forenoon  of  the  *f*lli,  the  Yukon  continued  her 
voyage  up  the  stream,  having  accomplished  all  the 
summer  trading  with  the  Fort  Yukon  Indians  the  day 
previous.  I  was  present  at  an  afternoon  parley  with 
them,  and  was  greatly  impressed  at  the  patience  exlnb- 
ited  and  required  by  traders  among  these  savages  ;  a 
patience  su(!h  as  not  (me  shopman  in  a  thousand  pos- 
sesses, acc'ording  to  my  experience,  however  great  a 
haggler  he  may  be.  McQuestion  had  learned  the  art  of 
patience  from  his  old  employers,  probably  the  most 
8U(!cessful  bargainers  with  savages  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  Indian  No.  1  put  in  an  appearance  with  a  miser- 
able lot  of  furs,  and  a  more  miserable  story  of  poverty, 
the  badness  of  the  winter  for  trapping,  the  scarcity  of 
animals  and  the  inferiority  of  the  pelts,  his  large  family 
in  need  of  support,  his  honesty  with  the  company  in 
the  past,  and  a  score  of  other  pleas,  the  upshot  of  which 
was  a  request  that  he  might  be  supplied  with  clothing 
and  ammunition  for  another  year  in  return  for  the  pelts 
at  his  feet.  The  trader  replies,  setting  a  definite  price 
in  trading  material  for  the  amount  of  skins  before  him, 
and  the  "dickering"  begins.  After  half  an  hour  or  an 
hour's  talk  of  the  most  tiresome  description,  the  dis- 
cussion ends  in  the  Indian  accepting  the  exact  amount 
the  trader  originally  offered,  or  about  one-tenth  of  his 


THHOLGH  THE  YUKON  FLAT  LANDS. 


385 


own  (lemunds.  Indian  No.  2,  who  has  heard  every  word 
of  the  conversation,  then  eonies  forward  with  the  .same 
(luality  of  furs  and  exactly  the  same  story,  the  trade 
histin^  exactly  the  same  time,  and  with  exactly  the  same 
result ;  and  so  on  with  all  the  others  in  turn.  Even 
No.  12.  of  the  dozen  j)resent,  does  not  vary  the  stereo- 
typed proceedings  any  more  than  an  actor's  interj)ret-a- 
tion  of  a  i)art  varies  on  the  twelfth  night  of  the  pie(;e. 
Then  Indian  No.  1  (;omes  forward  again  with  a  package 
of  furs  of  a  better  quality  than  the  first  he  displayed, 
and  solemnly  affirms  that  these  are  the  only  ones  he  has 
left,  and  that  if  the  trader  will  not  give  him  enough 
clothing  for  himself  and  family,  and  enough  ammuniticm 
to  last  through  the  winter  in  return  for  them,  they  must 
all  go  naked  and  perhai)s  starve  for  want  of  the  means 
of  procuring  food.  This  story,  with  its  (!ontinuation, 
lasts  about  half  as  long  as  the  first,  but  ends  in  the  same 
way,  as  the  Indian's  eloquence  has  about  as  much  effect 
on  the  trader  as  it  would  on  the  proverbial  row  of  stumps. 
The  farce  is  repeated  by  all  the  Indians  in  turn,  and  is 
yet  again  repeated  at  least  once  before  the  entire  trans- 
action is  over,  during  all  of  which  time  the  white  tmder 
sits  composedly  on  his  stool,  and  gives  a  patient  and 
unvarying  answer  to  each  in  his  turn,  under  provo(ration 
that  would  have  put  Job  in  a  frenzy  before  the  first 
circle  was  completed. 

On  the  29th  of  July  we  took  an  early  departure,  and 
about  noon  passed  an  Indian  village  of  five  or  six  tents 
and  ten  or  a  dozen  canoes,  wlii(^h  might  have  appeared 
uninhabited  but  for  the  dogs  that  siirrounded  the  tents, 
nearly  a  score  to  every  one,  proving  that  their  owners 
were  either  asleep  or  only  temporarily  absent.    The  dogs 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


flocked  down  the  beach  and  up  the  bunk,  and  emitted 
such  a  cliorus  of  unearthly  howls  that  we  were  grateful 
to  the  (uirrent  for  hurrying  us  away.  That  day  we 
drifted  50.5  (geographical)  miles  in  a  triHe  over  thirteen 
hours,  showing  but  little  diminution  in  the  river's  rate 
of  speed.  It  was  an  exceedingly  hot  blistering  day  on 
the  river,  almost  unbearable,  and  the  heat,  coupled  with 
the  (;loud&  of  mo&quitoes,  impelled  the  doctor  to  remark 
that  it  was  clear  to  the  casual  observer  that  we  were  in 
the  Arctic  regions.  About  deven  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
the  thermometer  marking  80°  Fahrenheit  in  the  shade, 
we  saw  "sun-dogs,"  or  parhelia,  very  plainly  marked 
on  either  side  of  the  western  sun,  a  phenomenon  I  had 
so  often  observed  in  the  Arctic  winter  and  in  Arctic 
weather  elsewhere,  as  to  seem  incongruous  during  such 
troi)ical  heat.  A  heavy  rain  shower  came  up  about  ten 
o'clock  at  night  and  continued  at  intervals  until  late  the 
next  morning. 

"  It  is  an  ill  wind  that  blows  no  one  any  good,"  and  if 
the  gnats  anr  mosquitoes  did  keep  us  awake  all  night 
they  allowed  us  to  start  two  hours  earlier  than  usual,  and 
in  spite  of  a  gale  in  the  afternoon  that  made  it  very  diffi- 
cult to  steer  well  and  to  keep  off  the  lee  banks,  we 
camped  reasonably  early  and  had  forty-four  miles  to  our 
credit  in  addition.  This  wind  was  very  cold  and  disa- 
greeable, with  heavy  black  clonds  overhead  ;  a  most 
decided  change  in  the  weather  since  the  day  before,  but 
for  the  better,  as  the  strong  wind  kept  down  the  mos- 
quitoes and  gave  us  all  a  good  night's  rest. 

The  31st  was  uneventful,  and  in  fact  it  was  only  in  the 
casual  incidents  of  our  voyage  that  we  found  any  thing 
to  interest  us  while  floating  through  this  region,  a  flat 


THROUGH  THE  YUKON  FLAT  LANDS. 


287 


desert  clothed  with  spruce  trees,  all  of  a  uniform  size,  and 
monotonous  in  the  extreme.  We  scored  forty-five  geo- 
gra])hical  milet  and  retired  at  night  in  a  rain  shower, 
which  continued  with  such  unabated  fury  next  day  that 
we  remained  in  camp.  A  stroll  that  evening  disclosed  •^ 
the  distal  extremity  of  a  mastodon's  femur  on  the  gravel 
beach  ntar  camp,  Mr.  Homan  finding  a  tooth  of  the 
same  animal  near  by.  For  many  years  the  scattered 
Ixmes  of  this  extinct  animal  have  I  "en  found  ahmg  the 
Yukon,  showing  that  this  region  was  once  its  home. 
When  at  Fort  Yukon  an  Indi  t  ibroiight  the  tooth  of  a 
mastodon  to  a  member  of  my  party,  and  receiving  some- 
thing for  it,  probably  more  than  he  expected,  told  the 
white  man  that  the  entire  skeleton  was  protruding  from 
the  banks  of  one  of  the  islands,  about  a  day's  jf>nrney  up 
the  river.  Our  limited  time  and  transjiortation  foibade 
investigating  it  further.  In  a  few  years,  I  sui)p()se,  the 
bank  will  be  excavated  by  the  undermining  river,  and 
the  bones  swept  away  and  scattered  over  many  bars  and 
beaches,  for  it  is  in  such  places  that  the  greatest  numbers 
are  found,  while  a  complete  skeleton  in  situ  is  a  rarity. 
In  spite  of  slight  showers  and  a  generjil  ' '  bad  out- 
look, "  we  started  early  next  morning,  and  were  very 
soon  driven  into  a  slough  on  the  left  (southern)  bank  by 
a  strong  north-west  wind.  Through  this  spot  the  cur- 
rent was  so  stagnant  that  we  were  over  two  hours  in 
making  a  little  less  than  two  miles.  At  one  time  the 
head  wind  threatened  to  bring  us  completely  to  a  stand- 
still, so  slight  was  our  motive  power.  Nor  was  this  our 
only  episode  of  the  same  character.  Several  times  the 
exasperating  wind  played  us  this  trick,  and  when  we 
camped  for  the  night  after  twelve  hours  spent  on  the 


^-'^o^ 


288 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


a 


water,  we  could  only  reckon  twenty-six  miles  to  our 
credit.  The  event  thoroughly  established  the  fact  that 
the  central  channels  of  the  many  which  penetrate  this 
flat  district  contain  the  swiftest  currents,  while  along  the 
main  banks  there  are  numerous  water-ways  open  at  both 
ends  with  almost  stagnant  water  in  them.  About  three 
in  the  afternoon  we  passed  a  double  log  house  on  the 
right  bank  with  two  or  three  small  log  caches  mounted 
high  in  the  air  on  the  corner  posts,  and  two  graves,  all 
o^hich  seemed  new  in  construction,  although  the  place 
was  entirely  deserted.  Indian  signs  of  all  kinds  now 
began  to  appear  as  we  approa'ched  the  lower  ramparts, 
although  no  Indians  were  seen.  By  noon  the  blue  hills 
ot  the  ramparts  were  seen  to  our  4ef t,  and  by  the  middle 
of  the  afternoon,  we  could  make  out  individual  trees 
upon  them,  and  at  half-past  seven  o'clock  we  camped  on 
the  last  island  in  the  great  group  of  from  two  to  ten 
thousand  through  whick  we  had  been  threading  our  way 
so  long,  with  the  upper  gates  of  the  lower  ramparts  in 
full  sight,  about  a  mile  or  two  distant. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


THROUGH  THE  LOWEU    ItAMPAIlTS,  AND  THE  EXI)  OF  THE 

HAFT  JOUUXEY. 


ERY  well  defined  indeed 
are  the  upjjer  gates  f>f 
the  lower  ramparts,  jind 
one  enters  them  from 
above  with  a  sudden- 
ness that  recalls  his 
childish  ideas  of  moun- 
tain ranges  taken  frojn 
juvenile  geography-  ^ 
books,  where  they  are 
represented  as  a  closely 
connected  series  of  tre- 


INDIAN    "cache"   on   LOWEK  YUKON. 


mendously  steep  peaks,  with  no  outlying  hills  connect- 
ing them  with  the  level  valleys  by  gently  rolling  sloi)es, 
as  nature  has  fortunately  (ihos^n  to  do  ;  this  approach 
to  the  lower  ramparts  being  one  of  the  few  exceptions. 
The  lower  termination  is  not  by  any  means  so  well  mnrked 
as  after  the  rapids  at  Senati's  village  are  passed;  there 
is  a  gradual  lowering  of  the  range,  broken  by  many  ab- 
rupt as  well  as  gradual  rises  until  the  delta  at  the  mouth 
iOf  the  river  is  reached,  far  beyond  the  point  at  which 
any  traveler  has  placed  their  western  limit.  I  think  I 
agree  pretty  well  with  others  in  placing  it  about  the 
mouth  of  the  Tanana  or  Nuklakayet  trading  station. 


.  I 


Miii 


290 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


This  would  give  the  lower  i-amparts  a  length  of  about 
one  hundred  miles  along  the  river,  or  about  one-fourth 
the  length  of  the  upper  ramparts. 

On  August  3d  we  started  at  7:30  a.  m.,  and  half  an 
hour  afterward  our  hearts  were  gladdened  by  re-enter- 
ing the  hilly  country,  for  the  flat  and  monotonous  dis- 
tricts through  which  we  had  been  drifting  for  many 
days  induced  a  peculiar  depression  difficult  to  describe  as 
well  as  to  suffer.  Our  entry  was  signaled  by  the  killing 
of  three  young  but  almost  full-grown  gray  geese  out  of 
a  small  flock  which  we  surprised  as  we  floated  around  a 
point  of  land  near  the  northei  u  bank.  This  incident 
ushered  in  a  hunting  season  when  our  shot-guns  might 
have  done  great  service  but  for  our  unfavorable  condi- 
tion for  hunting,  planted  as  we  were  upon  a  raft  in  the 
middle  of  a  broad  river. 

We  had  supposed  that  when  we  entered  the  ramparts 
and  the  widely-scattered  waters  of  the  river  were  united 
into  a  single  channel,  our  speed  would  surely  increase ; 
in  fact,  we  had^been  told  as  much  by  the  steamboat  men. 
On  the  contrary,  the  current  was  distinctly  slower  than 
that  of  any  main  channel  of  the  stream  through  which 
we  had  drifted  since  leaving  the  head  of  the  river,  and 
after  floating  for  thirteen  hours  we  could  only  reckon 
thirty-six  geographical  miles  to  our  credit,  the  poorest 
record  we  had  made  except  on  days  when  we  had 
strandod  upon  a  river  bar  or  had  been  forced  down  a 
side  channel  of  slack  water. 

i^hout  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  we  passed  three 
canoes  hauled  up  on  the  riglit  bank,  their  owners  being 
asleep  on  the  warm  sand  of  the  shore,  nearly  naked. 
Their  clothes  were  hanging  out  to  dry,  and  they  were 


THROUGH  THE  LOWER  RAMPARTS. 


291 


evidently  remaining  over  from  the  heavy  rain-storm  of 
the  (lay  before.  Persistent  yelling  aroused  them,  and 
one  of  their  number  put  oflf  in  his  canoe,  paddling 
around  the  raft,  but  not  understanding  each  other,  he 
returned  to  the  shore,  having  uttered  but  one  word  that 
we  could  comprehend,  chi/  (tea). 

A  half-hour  afterward  we  passed  the  mouth  of  the 
Che-taut,  a  fair-sized  stream  coming  in  from  the  north. 
Near  this  point  and  for  some  distance  beyond,  we  saw 
a  number  of  old  Indian  signs,  such  as  graves,  habitations 
and  caches,  but  the  only  living  representatives  of  the 
tribe  were  the  three  sleepers  we  had  seen  a  few  miles 
back.  Numbers  of  large  wicker  fish-traps  were  seen 
along  the  beach,  none  of  which,  however,  were  set ;  and, 
in  general,  an  air  of  desolation  prevailed.  As  soon  as 
the  early  cold  snaps  of  approaching  winter  along  the 
Arctic  coast  of  Alaska  send  the  reindeer  southward  on 
their  migrations,  these  Nimrods  of  the  river  hasten 
northward  to  meet  them,  for  their  skins  furnisli  most 
acceptable  winter  clothing,  and  their  meat  is  a  welcome 
chunge  from  the  dried  salmon  of  the  river.  About  six 
oN^lock  we  saw  a  fair-looking  Indian  log-house  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  river,  having  a  harrahnra  (RuHHrnn 
name  for  log-cabin,  half  or  nearly  underground,  the 
"dug-out"  of  the  West),  and  carJic  attached.  All  of 
the  Indian  cachet  of  the  lower  ramparts,  and  ewn  fur- 
ther down  the  river  until  the  Eskimo  are  encountered, 
are  merely  diminutive  log-cabins  from  about  four  by  four 
to  eight  by  eight,  mounted  on  corner  logs  so  high  that  one 
«an  walk  underneath  the  floor,  which  is  generally  made  of 
poles  or  puncheons.  A  steep  log  leans  against  the  door- 
sill  and  is  cut  into  steps,  to  enable  the  owner  to  ascend 


202 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


(see  initial  piece  to  this  chapter).  The  owner  of  this 
particular  cabin  had  displayed  much  more  than  the 
usual  energy  in  the  construction  of  his  domicile,  there 
actually  being  a  fence  inclosing  a  small  yard  on  one  side 
of  the  house,  and  wooden  steps  leading  up  the  steep  bank 
from  the  water's  edge  to  the  little  plateau  upon  wliicli 
the  cabin  was  built.  These  were  roughly  but  ingeni- 
ously constructed  of  small,  short  lengths  of  log,  the 
upper  sides  being  leveled  with  an  adze  or  ax. 

We  camped  at  8:30  p.  m.  near  several  Indian  graves, 
about  a  mile  or  two  above  the  mouth  of  the  Whym- 
per  River,  which  comes  in  from  the  left,  and  just 
on  the  upper  boundary  of  the  conspicuous  valley  of 
that  stream.  There  wei*e  quite  a  number  of  graves  at 
this  point,  forming  the  first  and  only  burying  place  we 
saw  on  the  river  that  might  be  called  a  family  graveyard, 
i.  e.,  a  spot  where  a  number,  say  six  or  seven,  were 
buried  in  a  row  within  a  single  inclosure.  From  its 
posts  at  the  corners  and  sides  were  the  usual  totems  and 
old  rags  flying,  two  of  the  carvings  representing,  I  think, 
a  duck  and  a  bear  respectively,  while  the  others  could 
not  be  made  out.  We  had  heard,  in  an  imperfect  way, 
on  the  upper  river,  that  some  aisease  was  raging  among 
the  natives  on  the  lower  part,  and  that  whole  villages 
had  been  swept  away  and  bodies  left  unburied,  but  this 
proved  to  be  wholly  sensational.  A  mild  form  of 
measles  had  indeed  attacked  a  small  town,  causing  one 
or  two  deaths,  but  this  was  the  only  foundation  we 
could  find  for  the  report.  The  Yukon  River,  however,  is 
a  great  thoroughfare  for  contagious  disease,  and  mala- 
dies raging  among  the  Chilkats  have  been  kn^wn  to 
travel  its  whole  course  as  rapidly  as  we  had  done,  and 


THROUGH  THE  LOWER  RAMPARTS. 


293 


from  the  river  as  a  base  had  spread  right  and  left  among 
the  native  tribes,  until  the  cold  weather  of  ai)i).'()aching 
winter  subdued  them,  if  they  were  amenable  to  the  influ- 
ence of  temperature.  I  have  never  heard  of  any  return 
ing  against  the  stream,  but  instances  of  their  descending 
it  are  not  infrequent.  Dr.  Wilson  tried  to  get  a  skull 
out  of  the  many  we  assumed  were  at  hand,  to  send  to 
the  Army  Museum's  large  craniological  collection,  but 
although  several  very  old-looking  sites  were  opened,  the 
skulls  were  too  fresh  to  be  properly  prex)ared  in  the  brief 
time  at  our  disposal. 

The  most  welcome  change  in  this  hilly  country  is  the 
diminishing  of  the  gnats  and  mosquitoes  into  quite 
endurable  numbers.  We  found  several  varieties  of  ber- 
ries near  this  camp,  one  or  two  of  which  were  quite  pal- 
atable ;  the  crisp  rosebuds  still  continuing  to  appear, 
although  perhaps  they  were  not  so  large  as  those* we 
found  near  old  Fort  Yukon. 

These  lower  ramparts  so  closely  resemble  the  ramparts 
of  the  Upper  Yukon  in  many  particulars  that  the  convic- 
tion soemed  irresistible  that  thev  are  one  and  the  same 

ft/ 

chain  of  mountains,  and  if  I  may  be  excused  the  simile, 
are  stretched  like  a  bow-string  across  the  great  arc  of  the 
Yukon,  as  it  bends  northward  into  the  Arctic  flat-lands, 
which  latter  beyond  the  timber  line  become  the  great 
Arctic  tundra. 

The  night  of  August  3d  was  very  cold,  only  a  few 
degrees  above  freezing,  and  besides  the  chance  it  gave  us 
for  a  most  comfortable  night's  rest,  it  stiffened  ui»  the 
few  mosquitoes  of  the  evening  before  so  completely  that 
they  had  to  suspend  operations  altogether.  Just  before 
starting  Corporal  Shircliff  killed  a  large  porcupine  near 


294 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  QUE  AT  RIVER. 


camp,  an  animal  said  to  be  quite  numerous  along  the 
river,  and  so  abundant  in  the  tlat-linds  near  Fort  Yukon 
as  to  attach  his  name  to  the  large  tributary  which  joins 
the  river  at  that  point.  It  was  nearly  eight  o'clock  when 
we  started,  and  after  a  mile's  drifting  we  passed  the 
mouth  of  the  Whymper  River,  which  we  could  not  see 
until  after  we  had  got  well  past  it.  Its  valley,  however, 
is  quite  noticeable,  and  one  would  immediately  conjec- 
ture tlijft  a  river  of  considerable  dimensions  flowed 
through  it. 

A  somewhat  ludicrous  incident  took  place  at  a  short 
distance  below  this  point.  As  we  were  drifting  along  a 
couple  of  wolves  came  trotting  leisurely  around  a  point 
of  land  just  ahead  of  us,  and  the  corporal  and  the 
cook  picking  up  their  rifles  began  firing  at  them  with 
the  usual  fatal  results — to  the  ammunition — the  wolves 
siifli)ly  snapping  at  each  shot  as  it  was  fired,  but  not 
apparently  increasing  their  pace,  though  they  were  but 
seventy-five  or  a  hundred  yards  away.  After  fully  half 
a  dozen  shots  had  been  discharged  as  fast  as  the  two 
could  h)ad  and  fire,  an  Indian  house  broke  unexpectedly 
into  view  around  the  point  from  which  the  wolves  had 
come,  and  in  one  breath  two  or  three  of  the  amused  spec- 
tators called  out  to  the  sportsmen  that  they  were  firing 
at  Indian  dogs,  as  was  proved  by  the  tameness  of  the 
animals  and  their  proximity  to  the  house;  whereupon  I 
told  the  men  to  desist.  The  funny  thing  was  that  they 
really  were  wolves,  and  the  two  men  had  fired  so  rapidly 
and  the  bjiUets  had  struck  the  bank  and  torn  out  the 
gravel  just  beyond  the  animals  so  fast  that  all  their 
attention  was  absorbed  in  that  direction  and  thus  they 
did  not  observe  us,  the  reports  of  the  shots  and  the 


H 


Su       _. 


B        t- 


3      » 


THROUGH  THE  LOWER  RAMPARTS. 


297 


echoes  of  the  impacts  being  so  confusing.  The  moment 
we  ceased  and  they  heard  our  voices  and  got  one  look  at 
us  out  on  the  river  the  rapidity  witli  which  tliey  sought 
the  woods,  left  no  doubt  as  to  tlieir  species.  The  Indian 
house  and  surroundings  were  deserted  and  the  wolves 
had  been  smelling  around  and  investigating  some  old  ani- 
mal refuse  near  by. 

This  part  of  the  river  was  particularly  abundant  in 
Indian  signs  of  a  permanent  character  on  both  banks  of 
the  river,  but  not  a  living  soul  was  seen  anywhere. 

A  most  exasperating  gale  of  wind  raged  all  day,  driv- 
ing us  into  areas  of  slackwater  in  which  we  could 
scarcely  move,  and  keeping  us  alongside  of  steep  banks 
in  the  river  bends ;  and  when  camp  was  made  shortly 
after  eight  o'clock,  after  being  on  the  water  over  twelve 
hours,  we  had  made  but  twenty-six  and  a  half  miles. 

During  the  day  we  saw  a  number  of  places  at  which 
the  red  rocks  crop  out  from  the  summits  of  the  high 
hills,  resembling  those  on  the  eastern  side  of  Lake  Lin- 
deman,  which  had  been  named  the*'  Iron-Capped  Mount- 
ains" on  that  account.  The  contrast  of  color  was  not 
so  great,  however,  for  on  the  latter  range  the  rocks  pro- 
jected through  the  snow  and  blue-ice  of  the  glacier-cap, 
while  in  the  lower  ramparts  they  were  surrounded  by 
brownish-red  soil  and  autumnal  foliage.  I  doubt  if  I 
should  have  noticed  them  but  for  their  great  similarity 
to  those  on  the  headwaters  of  the  river. 

Our  Camp  47  was  near  a  small  stream  on  the  left  bank 
and  I  observed  that  all  of  these  little  creeks  passing 
through  the  wet  moss  and  tundra-like  carpet  under- 
neath the  dense  timber,  were  highly  colored  with  a  port- 
wine  hue,  although  their  waters  were  so  clear  that  one 


298 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


could  often  see  to  the  bottom  in  places  three  and  four 
feet  deep.  Probably  these  streams  have  *]ieir  sources 
in  the  iron-impregnated  soil  and  rock  of  the  adjacent 
mountains,  and  if  flowing  through  land  where  the  drain- 
ings  have  absorbed  the  dyes  from  decaying  leaves  and 
vegetation,  acquire  this  deep  red  color,  almost  verg- 
ing on  purple,  forming  a  sort  of  natural  ink,  as  it  were. 
Wherever  these  streams  empty  themselves,  their  waters 
make  a  striking  ccmtrast  with  the  white  and  muddy  river, 
and  often  where  there  was  nothing  else  to  indicate  that 
we  were  approacHiing  a  tributary,  we  would  see  ahead  a 
dark  stripe  running  out  fi'cmi  the  bank  and  curving  down 
stream  as  it  took  up  the  new  direction  of  the  river's 
course,  and  this  woukl  indicate  the  }/resence  of  a  creek 
from  the  hillsides,  long  before  we  could  rer.ch  its  mouth. 
Two  days  after  entering  this  hilly  country  we  ap- 
proached the  rai)ids  of  the  lower  ramparts,  of  which  we 
had  heard  and  read  so  much  that  we  felt  a  little  anxiety  as 
to  the  danger  of  approaching  them.  AVe  had  a  very  good 
map,  Raymond's,  of  this  i)art  of  the  river,  and  knew  just 
about  where  to  expect  them,  and  this  circumstance, 
coupled  with  the  instructions  received  on  the  upper  river 
to  keep  well  toward  the  left  bank,  reassured  us  somewhat ; 
but  still  we  had  double  complements  of  men  at  both  bow 
and  stern  oars  to  be  used  in  case  of  emergency.  A  little 
bit  uncertain  at  one  point  in  regard  to  our  position  with 
respect  to  the  rapids  we  made  hasty  inquiries  at  a  small 
Indian  village  near  which  we  drifted,  and  its  occupants 
told  us  that  we  had  passed  the  rapids  about  half  a  mile 
back,  the  natives  pointing  to  an  insignificant  reef  of  low 
white  bowlders  that  jutted  out  a  short  distance  from  the 
right  bank.     They  were  certainly  the  mildest  rapids  I 


TH ROUGH  THE  LOWER  RAMPARTS. 


299 


had  ever  seen.  During  liigh»»i'  water,  when  the  current 
is  swifter  and  the  reef  just  projects  from  the  swift  water, 
these  rapids  may  appear  more  formidable,  but  if  tliis  part 
of  the  river  had  been  wholly  unexplored  until  our 
arrival,  I  doubt  seriously  whether  we  should  ever  have 
observed  them.  At  this  point  the  river  is  only  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  yards  wide,  and  although  the  cur- 
rent noticeably  increases,  its  increase  can  not,  I  think,  be 
in  any  proportional  to  the  vast  volume  of  water  the  river 
must  carry  through  such  a  narrow  channel ;  the  stream 
must,  therefore,  be  unusually  deep.  This  part  of  the 
lower  ramparts,  which  maybe  assumed  to  be  the  "  bacrk- 
bone  "  or  summit  of  the  chain  of  high  hills  through  which 
the  river  has  cut  its  way,  is  very  picturesque,  and  had  it 
not  been  for  the  squally  weather  and  the  black  (Oouds 
that  were  lowering  over  the  crests,  I  should  have  lingered 
awhile  so  as  to  procure  a  few  photographs  of  the  scenery. 
Gloster's  sketches  served  our  purpose  too  well  in  such 
places  to  think  of  delaying  very  long  for  this  object  at 
any  point  of  the  journey,  and  one  of  them  is  shown  on 
page  295.  I  think  it  would  be  a  fair  estimate  to  say 
that  the  hills  of  the  upper  ramparts  in  their  highest  ele- 
vations are  nearly  twice  the  height  of  the  corresponding 
ones  in  the  lower  ramparts. 

We  passed  the  rapids  of  the  ramparts  at  2:10  7».m., 
and  the  Indian  village  below  ten  minutes  later.  This  is 
called  Senati's  (Senatee's)  village  upon  previous  maps, 
and  at  the  date  of  our  arrival  was  made  up  of  two  well- 
worn  tents  and  four  birch-bark  houses,  the  whole  contain- 
ing from  forty  to  fifty  souls.  Over  half  a  dozen  canoes 
put  off  from  the  village  and  were  soon  paddling  around 
us,  whereupon  a  lively  competition  ensued  for  sui)plying 


^ 


300 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


US  with  dried  and  smol^ed  Halmon.  It  was  at  this  village 
that  I  first  noticed  the  round-rimmed  hand  net  spoken 
of  in  a  former  chapter  as  appearing  on  the  lower 
river.  Their  handles  of  ten  and  twelve  feet  in  length 
may  appear  to  contradict  my  conjecture  as  to  the  unus- 
ual depth  of  the  river  here,  or  the  Indians  may  go  fur- 
ther down  to  lish,  as  we  saw  large  numbers  of  their 
caches  perched  along  the  right  bank  some  distance 
below.  Our  camp  was  a  forced  one  that  evening, — the 
5th — as  we  got  stuck  on  a  sandspit  at  the  head  of  an 
island  where  we  had  to  make  "  a  rubber-boot  camp"  as 
the  men  designated  any  place  w  lie  re  we  grounded  in 
shoal  water  so  far  from  the  shore  that  rubber-boots  had 
to  be  put  on  in  order  to  cany  the  cooking  and  camping 
effects  to  the  selected  spot.  Cold  and  stormy  as  the  day 
hud  l)een  the  mosquitoes  sent  a  fair  representation  to 
inform  us  that  we  had  not  been  deserted  by  them.  From 
Camp  47  to  Camp  48,  Mr.  Homan  figured  the  day's  run 
of  nearly  twelve  hours'  uninterrupted  drift  at  but 
twenty-seven  miles,  and  this  in  the  narrowest  portion  of 
the  ramparts,  where  we  had  hoped  the  current  would 
increase.  I  was  much  inclined  to  think  that  our  prog- 
ress had  been  underestimated  four  or  five  miles,  and 
that  a  desire  to  coincide  with  Captain  Raymond's  maps 
had  marred  an  otherwise  almost  faultless  reckoning. 

Shortly^  after  noon  on  the  6th — having  started  at  half- 
past  eight — we  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Tanana,  having 
found  one  more  island  on  this  stretch  of  the  river  than 
is  mapped  by  Raymond.  A  half-dozen  more  islands  in 
many  parts  of  the  wide  river  or  even  half  a  hundred  more 
or  less  at  any  point  in  the  flat-lands  might  have  escaped 
detection  on  any  previous  map,  but  here  the  shores  are  so 


THROUGH  THE  LOWER  RAMPARTS. 


801 


bold  and  the  islands  so  few  and  conspicuous  that  tliey 
can  hardly  escape  casual  observation,  and  an  error  of 
even  one  upon  the  maj)  would  attrai^t  notice. 

The  Tanana  River,  to  which  I  have  referred,  is  the 
largest  tributary  of  the  Yukon,  and  is  fully  the  peer  oi 
the  parent  stream,  at  the  point  of  confluence.  Were  it 
not  for  the  fact  that  the  geographical  features  which 
must  necessarily  limit  the  drainage  area  of  each  i)reclude 
the  Tanana  basin  from  equaling  that  of  the  Yukon,  a 
casual  observer  standing  at  the  junction  of  the  two  might 
well  be  puzzled  to  know  which  of  the  two  was  entitled 
to  be  regarded  as  the  main  stream.  The  Yukon  Kiver 
at  this  point  is  a  little  over  th  rteen  hundred  miles  iu 
length  from  its  head,  and  a  glance  at  a  map  will  show 
that  in  its  great  northward  bend  it  has  inclosed  the 
Tanana,  which  would  have  to  make  a  great  many  wind- 
ings within  this  area  in  order  to  equal  the  Yukon  in 
length,  a  case  which  we  are  not  justified  in  assuming. 
There  is  a  rough  method,  however,  of  arriving  at  its  length, 
according  to  the  story  told  me  by  an  old  trader  on  the 
river,  upon  whose  word  I  can  rely.  With  one  white 
companion,  and  some  Indians  as  packers,  he  crossed  from 
the  trading  station  at  Belle  Isle,  near  Johnny's  village 
or  Klat-ol-Min,  in  a  southwest  direction,  over  the  hills 
that  divide  the  Yukon  and  Tanana  basins,  ascending  a 
tributary  of  the  former  and  descending  one  of  the  latter, 
the  journey  occupying  two  or  three  weeks,  after  which 
the  Indians  were  sent  back.  A  boat  was  constructed 
from  the  hide  of  a  moose,  resembling  the  "  bull -boat" 
of  the  weste  >  n  frontiersmen,  and  in  this  they  drifted  to 
the  river's  m  uth.  At  the  point  where  the  two  travelers 
first  sighted  the  Tanana,  the  trader  estimated  it  to  be 


302 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


about  twelve  hundred  yards  wide,  or  very  nearly  tliree- 
quarters  of  a  mile,  and  as  they  were  floating  flf  teen  or  six- 
teen hours  a  day  for  ten  days,  on  a  current  whose  speed 
he  estimated  at  six  or  seven  miles  an  hour,  it  being  much 
swifter  than  the  Yukon  at  any  point  as  high  as  Belle 
Isle,  my  informant  computed  his  progress  at  from  ninety 
to  a  iiundred  miles  a  day  ;  or  from  nine  hundred  to  a 
thousand  miles  along  the  Tanana.  He  estimates  the 
whole  length  of  the  river  by  combining  the  result  of  his 
observation  with  Indian  rex)orts,  at  from  ten  to  twelve 
hundred  miles.  Fear  of  the  Tanana  Indians  appears  to 
be  the  motive  for  the  rapid  rate  t)f  travel  through  their 
country,  and  although  in  general  a  very  friendly 
tribe  to  encounter  away  from  home,  they  have  always 
opposed  any  exploration  of  their  country.  The  tiader's 
companion  had  suggested  and  promoted  the  journey  as 
a  quasi  scientific  expedition,  and  he  collected  a  few 
skulls  of  the  natives  and  some  botanical  specimens,  but  no 
niai)s*or  notes  were  made  of  the  trip,  and  it  was  afterward 
said  by  the  Alaska  Company's  employes  that  the  explorer 
was  an  envoy  of  the  "opposition,"  as  the  old  trad«^rs 
called  the  new  comx)any,  sent  to  obtain  information 
regarding  the  country  as  a  trading  district.  Allowing  a 
fair  margin  for  all  possible  error,  I  think  the  river  is  from 
eight  hundred  to  nine  hundred  miles  long,  not  a  single 
portion  of  which  can  be  said  to  have  been  mapped.*  This 
would  jirobably  make  the  Tanana,  if  I  am  right  in  my 
estimate,  the  longest  wholly  unexplored  river  in  the 
world,  certainly  the  longest  of  the  western  continent. 

As  we  drifted  by  its  mouth  we  could  only  form  an 
approximate  idea  of  its  width,  which  was  apparently  two 
or  three  miles,  including  all  channels  and  islands,  which 


*  I  have  since  ieariied  that  Mr.  Bates  made  a  map  and  took  notes. 


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THROUGH  THE  LOWER  RAMPARTS. 


305 


may  be  of  the  nature  of  a  delta.  It  seemed  to  be  ^ery 
swif  J;  and  brought  down  quantities  of  uprooted  drift  tim- 
ber of  large  dimensions  as  compared  with  that  brought  by 
the  Yukon.  Looking  back  it  resembled  a  suddenly 
exposed  inland  lake  on  the  borders  of  the  main  stream, 
and  its  swift  waters  so  overwhelmed  those  of  the  Yukon 
that  a  great  slackening  took  place  in  the  latter  near 
their  confluence,  forming  a  sluggish  pool  into  which  >ve 
helplessly  drifted.  All  these  circumstances  give  to  the 
Tanana  the  appearance  of  equality  with  the  more  import- 
ant stream.  Once  in  its  current  we  went  skimming  along 
at  a  rapid  rate  that  revealed  the  force  of  the  new  stream. 

At  1:40  P.M.  we  passed  an  Indian  village  of  four  tents 
and  two  birch-bark  houses,  containing  from  twenty  to 
twenty-five  souls.  Among  the  canoemen  w^ho  visited  us 
was  a  half-breed  Indian,  very  neatly  and  jauntily 
dressed,  who  spoke  English  quite  well,  and  whom  we 
hired  to  pilot  us  to  the  trading  station  at  Nuklakayet, 
the  channel  to  which  was  very  blind,  and  difficult  to 
follow,  as  we  had  been  told  at  old  Fort  Yukon.  An 
hour  later  a  large  native  village  was  passed  on  the  north 
bank,  apparently  deserted  ;  and  another  hour  brought 
us  to  the  "opposition"  store  of  the  old  Northern 
Trading  Company,  around  which  was  grouped  quite  an 
extensive  collection  of  Indian  cabins,  graves,  caches.,  and 
other  vestiges  of  habitation.  The  old  store  was  nearly 
demolished,  while  the  once  thriving  Indian  village  had 
hardlj'^  a  sign  of  life  in  it. 

At  half -past  four  o'clock  we  passed  two  or  three  small 
Indian  camps  on  the  upper  ends  of  some  contiguous 
islands,  upon  which  they  were  spending  the  summer  in 
fishing  for  salmon.     At  the  upper  ends  of  these  islands 


■i 


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■  V, 


Sim 


306 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


they  build  oblique  weirs  or  wicker- work  wing-dams  con- 
verging to  a  certain  point,  at  which  a  large  wicker- woik 
net  is  placed,  and  into  the  latter  tlie  salmon  are  directed 
and  there  caught.  Tliese  wicker-work  nets  are  similar  to 
those  heretofore  spoken  of  as  having  been  seen  scattered 
along  the  beach  in  front  of  a  small  house  just  after  enter- 
ing the  ramparts,  and  some  of  them  are  so  large  that  a 
man  might  walk  into  their  open  mouths,  while  tliey  nie 
probably  a  score  of  feet  in  length.  These,  together  with 
the  native  hand-nets,  already  spoken  of,  are  the  only 
api)liances  I  saw  used  for  cjitching  hsh  ;  but  they  serve 
amply  to  sui)ply  the  natives  througliout  the  year,  and 
to  give  their  numerous  dogs  a  salmon  apiece  every 
day. 

A  little  after  six  o'clock  we  sighted  die  Nuklnkayt't 
trading  station,  and  after  much  hard  labor  succeeded  in 
making  a  landing  there,  for  the  channel  was  most  tor- 
tuous, and  witliout  our  Indian  i)ilot  we  should  i)i()bal)ly 
have  missed  the  place  altogether,  so  much  dodging 
through  winding  ways  and  aro^^nd  obscure  islands  was 
necessary.  Mr.  Harper,  whom  we  found  in  cliaige,  was 
the  only  white  man  present,  although  ^Ir.  McQuestion, 
and  another  trader  who  was  down  tlie  river  at  tlie  time 
(Mr.  Mayo),  make  the  station  their  headquarters.  It  is 
the  furthest  inland  trading  post  at  present  maintained 
by  the  Alaska  Conunercial  Comj^any— or  any  otliei-  cor- 
poration on  the  river —although  there  were  foi-merly 
others  of  which  mention  has  been  made,  l)ut  an  occasional 
visit  of  the  river  steamer  has  taken  their  place.  Nukla 
kayet  was  once  on  the  flat  bottom  land  at  the  junction  of 
the  Tanana  and  the  Yukon,  and  was  coTisidered  a  sort  of 
neutral  ground  for  the  British  traders  from  above  and 


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^^mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 


THROUGH  THE  LOWER  RAMPARTS. 


the  Russians  below,  there  being  at  that  time  summer 
trading  camps  only  in  existence. 

Here  Mr.  Harper  had  attempted  a  small  garden,  which 
is  certainly  the  most  northerly  garden  existing  in  the  ter- 
ritory of  the  United  States,  if  not  in  the  western  conti- 
nent ;  it  being  eighty-iive  geographical  or  ninety-eight 
statute  miles  from  the  Arctic  circle,  or  within  a  couple 
of  days'  journey  of  the  polar  regions.  The  garden  is 
shown  in  the  illustration  taken  from  a  photograph  made 
by  Mr,  Homan.  Its  principal  vegetables  were  turnips, 
the  largest  of  which  raised  that  year  weighed  a  little 
over  six  pounds.  They  seemed  particularly  crisp  and 
acceptable  to  our  palates,  most  of  us  eating  them  raw, 
d  la  Sellers.  I  never  knew  before  that  turnips  were 
so  palatable.  A  few  other  hardy  plants  and  veget- 
ables completed  the  contents  of  the  garden.  Gar- 
dening in  this  country,  however,  must  be  greatly  im- 
Ijeded  by  the  swarms  of  mosquitoes,  while  agricul- 
ture on  a  considerable  scale  would  be  retarded  by  tlie 
wet  and  mossy  character  of  the  soil.  Mr.  Hai-per 
has  chosen  a  south-eastern  slope  directly  on  the  river 
bank,  and  here  the  immediate  drainage  has  helped  liim 
to  overcome  the  latter  obstacle  to  the  success  of  his 
garden. 

We  inspected  the  "barka,"  or  decked  schooner  of  ten 
or  twelve  tons,  and  I  decided  to  take  her,  although  fear- 
ing that  we  might  find  many  more  discomforts  in  lier 
cramped  quarters,  than  upon  our  old  raft. 

Here,  too,  the  old  raft  was  laid  away  in  peace,  perhaps 
to  become  kindling-wood  for  the  trader's  stove.  Rough 
and  rude  as  it  was.  I  had  a  friendliness  for  the  uncouth 
vessel,  which  had  done  such  faithful  service,  and  borne 


?  ! 


l  r  I 


310 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


US  safely  through  so  many  trials,  surprising  us  with 
its  good  qualities.  It  liad  explored  a  larger  portion 
of  the  great  river  than  any  more  pretentious  craft, 
and  seemed  to  deserve  a  better  fate. 


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CHAPTER  XTI. 

DOWN  THE   KIVER  AND   HOMi:. 

HE  7th  of  August  we  remained 
over  pumping  out  the  bilge- 
water  from  the  "barka"  and 
transferring  freight  from  the 
raft  to  the  schooner,  and  making 
use  of  our  photographic  appar- 
atus. 

At   Nuklakayet  the   Eskimo 
dogs  begin  to  appear,  forty  or 
INDIAN  ouT-DooB  otTN  covERiNo,  fiftv   bcintT   ownpd    bv   thp   stn- 

ON  THB  LOWER  YUKON    RIVKB.  "^  ^J^       UClllj,      UV>  UCU      Uy       lllC     &ld- 

tion,  the  majority  of  which  Mr.  Harper  feared  he  sliould 
have  to  kill  to  save  the  expense  of  feeding  them  tlirough 
the  winter.  As  each  of  them  ate  a  salmon  a  day,  it  will 
be  seen  that  this  cost  was  no  small  item.  I  remembered 
the  trouble  I  had  once  experienced  in  obtaining  even  a 
smaller  number  of  these  useful  creatures  ;  a  difficulty 
which  many  another  Arctic  traveler  has  encountered, 
while  here  was  a  pack  about^  to  be  slaughtered  that  • 
would  well  suffice  for  any  sledging  ])arty.  The  Eskimo 
dogs  of  Alaska  are  larger,  finer-looking,  and  a  much 
more  distinct  variety  than  those  of  Xorth  Hudson's  Bay, 
King  William  Land  country,  and  adjacent  districts  ;  a 
description  of  any  one  Alaska  dog  answering  nearly  for 
all,  while  among  the  others  I  have  named,  there  was  the 
widest  difference  in  size,  shape  and  general  appearance. 


314 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


Prom  all  I  could  leam,  and  I  was  careful  to  inquire  of 
thoir  cai)abilities,  I  do  not  think  the  Alaskan  Eskimo 
dogs  (run  (iompare  with  the  others  in  enduranc^e,  whether 
as  regards  fatigue,  exposure  or  fasting.  For  all  tho 
puqioses  of  men  who  are  never  in  fear  of  starvation,  I 
think  it  more  than  probable  that  the  Alaskan  Eskimo 
dog  would  be  found  sui)erior  on  short  journeys  and  trii)s 
between  points  where  food  is  i)ro('urable ;  but  for  the 
use  of  explorers,  or  of  any  one  who  nuiy  be  exposed  to 
the  danger  of  famine,  the  others  are  undoubtedly  far 
superior.  When  I  told  some  of  the  Yukon  River  traders, 
who  had  spent  much  of  their  lives  in  the  native  country 
of  these  dogs,  of  some  of  the  feats  of  endui'ance  of  the 
Hudson  Bay  species,  they  seeuied  to  think,  judging  from 
their  countenances,  that  I  was  giving  them  a  choice  selec- 
tion from  the  Arctic  edition  of  Munchausen. 

Eskimo  boats,  or  those  in  which  tlie  wooden  frames 
are  covered  with  sealskin,  are  also  first  noticed  at  this 
place  ;  although  the  Eskimo  people  themselves  are  not 
found  as  logular  inhabitants  until  A'"  Ik  has  been 
passed,  some  twenty  or  thirty  miles.  I  saw  both  kinds, 
the  smaller  variety,  or  kiak,  in  native  language,  and  the 
large  kind,  or  oomien.,  of  the  Eskimo.  An  attempt  had 
evidently  been  made  to  fashion  the  bow  and  stern  of  the 
latter  into  nautical  "liB*'s."  with  a  result  much  more 
visible  tiian  with  those  of  Hudson's  Straits  and  Bay. 

On  Wednesday  the  8th  of  August,  we  got  away  late, 
and  there  being  a  slight  breeze  behind  us,  we  set  the  jib 
— the  only  sail  with  the  boat — and  were  agreeably  sur- 
prised at  the  manner  in  which  our  new  acquisition  cut 
through  the  water,  with  even  this  little  help  ;  the  sail 
assisting  her  probably  a  couple  of  miles  an  hour,  and, 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  AND  HOME. 


315 


better  than  all,  making  it  very  easy  work  to  keep  in  the 
strongest  currents. 

Indian  villages  or  camps  were  seen  o(!casionally  on  the 
upper  ends  of  islands,  with  their  fish-tra])s  set  above 
them,  and  from  some  of  these  we  obtained  fresh  salmon. 
As  the  trading  stations  are  approached,  these  Indian 
camps  increase,  the  largest  being  generally  clusleied 
around  the  station  itself,  while  a  diminution  botii  in 
numbers  and  size  is  perceptible  in  i)r()p()rtion  to  the  dis- 
tance from  these  centers.  As  many  of  these  cjimps  are 
but  temporary  summer  affairs,  which  are  abandoned  late 
in  the  fall,  this  clustering  around  the  white  men's  stores 
becomes  more  marked  at  that  i)eriod.  That  night's 
camping,  however,  i)lainly  showed  us  that  the  "  baika  '* 
was  not  as  good  as  the  raft  for  the  purjjose  of  approa<;h- 
ing  the  shore,  it  drawing  about  three  feet  to  the  raft's 
twenty  inches,  so  that  "rubber-boot  camps"  might  be 
quite  numerous  in  the  future.  Worst  of  all,  our  rubber 
boots  were  but  little  protection  in  three  feet  of  water,  and 
filling  to  the  top,  became  more  of  an  impediment  than 
otherwise  in  carrying  our  effects  to  the  shore.  Most  of 
our  camping  places  were  now  selected  with  reference  to 
steep  banks  that  had  at  least  three  feet  of  water  at  tlK.'ir 
foot,  yet  were  not  so  high  but  that  a  long  gang-plank 
could  reach  the  crest. 

On  the  9th,  we  started  early  with  a  light  wind  in  our 
face  that  within  an  hour  had  become  a  iurious  gale,  with 
white  capped  waves  running  over  the  broad  river  and 
dashing  over  our  boat.  We  ran  into  shoal  water,  droi)ped 
anchor,  and  tried  to  protect  ourselves  by  crawling  in 
under  the  leaking  decks.  Here  we  remained  cooi)ed  up 
until  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  the  gale  abat- 


1      3 

: 

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t 

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i 

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■    1 

1 

(?, 

316 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


ing  somewhat  we  pulled  up  anchor  and  drifted  for  six 
or  seven  miles,  going  into  camp  at  eight  o'clock,  having 
made  eight  and  a-half  miles  for  the  day.  After  camping, 
the  gale  died  down  to  a  calm,  and  allowed  us  the  full 
benefit  of  the  mosquitoes.  Either  we  were  getting  used 
to  their  pttacks,  or  the  season  had  affected  the  insects, 
for  they  appeared  less  numerous  than  on  the  upper  river. 

The  10th  was  another  day  starting  well  with  a  favorable 
breeze  and  ending  with  a  heavy  head-wind.  That  day 
we  passed  the  Newicargut  and  still  saw  many  Indian 
camps  where  fishing  for  salmon  was  going  on. 

The  11th  was  an  aggravating  repetition  of  the  events  of 
the  two  preceding  days.  That  day  we  passed  the  Meloze- 
cargut,  and  camped  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Yuko- 
cargut.  *"Cargut"  is  the  native  name  for  river,  and 
Sooncargut,  Melozecargut,  and  Tosecargut,  have  been 
changed  to  Sunday-cargut,  Monday-cargut,  and  Tuesday- 
cargut  by  the  English  speaking  traders  of  the  district. 

Another  object  now  influenced  our  selection  of  camps 
for  the  night,  and  that  was  to  choose  a  spot  with  few  or 
no  islands  in  its  front,  so  that  the  descending  river 
steamer  "  Yukon  "  could  not  pass  us  while  in  camp  by 
taking  a  channel  hidden  from  our  view. 

Shortly  after  midnight  a  steamer's  whistling  was  heard 
far  down  the  river,  and  after  a  great  deal  of  anxiety  for 
fear  it  was  the  "  Yukon"  that  had  passed  us  unnoticed, 
we  heard  the  puffing  approach  nearer  and  nearer,  and 
soon  saw  the  light  of  an  ascending  river  steamer.  It 
proved  to  be  a  very  diminutive  but  powerful  little  thing 
which  Mr.   Mayo  was  taking  to  Nuklakayet  for  the 


♦  Spelled  Chargut  on  Mr.  Homan's  map. 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  AND  HOME. 


817 


winter.  Two  brothers  of  the  name  of  Scheffelin,  the 
elder  of  whom  is  well  known  in  frontier  mining  history 
as  the  discoverer  of  the  celebrated  Tombstone  district  of 
Arizona,  having  amassed  a  fortune  in  that  territory, 
decided  to  try  the  mining  prospects  of  the  Yukon  and 
its  tributaries,  and  the  i)rior  year  had  chartered  a  vessel 
in  San  Francisco  on  which  they  put  this  little  river 
steamer,  and  sailed  for  the  Yukon.  Here  a  year  was 
spent  in  prospecting,  and  although ' '  ounce  diggings*  were 
struck"  on  or  near  the  Melozecargut,  yet  all  the  sur- 
roundings made  "  Ed  "  Scheifelin  think  it  would  not  pay 
to  j)ut  capital  in  such  an  undertaking,  although  it  might 
remunerate  the  individual  effort  of  the  itinerant  miner 
whose  capital  is  his  pick-ax,  pan  and  shovel.  Early  in 
the  spring  the  Schtffelins  got  a  letter  from  Arizona  which 
determined  their  return  to  the  United  States,  and  they 
had  left  the  river  a  few  weeks  previously,  the  three 
traders  at  Nuklakayet  buying  their  little  river  steamer, 
which  the  former  owners  had  named  the  *'  New  Racket.*' 
The  wages  of  these  traders  had  been  reduced  by  the 
Alaska  Company  in  order  to  contract  expenses,  so  that 
the  company  might  make  a  small  percentage  on  the  large 
capital  Invested,  until  the  traders  found  themselves  with- 
oul: 'sufficient  means  to  live  upon,  and  they  had  bought 
the  boat  intending  to  organize  a  small  trading  company 
of  their  own  upon  the  river  unless  their  former  wages 
were  restored.  The  Scheffelin  mining  expedition  was  an 
expensive  one,  and  remarkably  well  "outfitted  "  in  every 
necessary  department.  The  'irge  number  of  Eskimo 
dogs  at  Nuklakayet  had  been  selected  by  him  for  the 

*  Diggings  that  will  pay  an  ounce  of  gold  per  man  a  day,  or,  as 
gold  usually  runs,  from  $10  to  f 20  per  day. 


318 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


purpose  of  sledging  expeditions  in  winter  time.  He 
thought  seriously  of  invading  tlie  prospective  gold  fields 
of  Africa  as  his  next  venture,  showing  plainly  the  roving 
spirit  which  had  served  him  so  well  in  the  arid  deserts 
of  Arizona.  No  one  could  meet  him  anywhere  without 
wishing  him  good  luck  in  his  wild  adventures,  for  he  was 
the  prince  of  good  fellows. 

The  "  New  Racket"  left  us  very  early  in  the  morning, 
having  tied  up  alongside  of  c  mi)the  night  before,  while 
we  started  about  the  usual  time,  an  hour  after  daylight. 
About  3:30  p.m.  that  day — the  12th — we  passed  a  w'v 
considerable  Indian  village  called  Sakadelontin,  jai 
I)osed  of  a  number  of  birch-bark  houses  and  some  ten  or 
twelve  caches.,  and  containing  probably  fifty  or  sixty 
people.  It  is  one  of  the  few  large  villages  to  be  found 
at  any  great  distance  from  a  trading  station.  Before 
reaching  it  we  observed  a  number  of  native  coffins 
perched  up  in  the  trees,  the  first  and  only  ones  we  saw 
so  situated  on  the  river.  All  day  on  the  12th  and  13th 
a  heavy  gale  from  the  south  made  even  drifting  difficult. 
Upon  a  couple  of  northward-trending  stretches  of  the 
river  that  Avere  encountered  on  the  13th  we  set  the  jib, 
and  spun  along  at  the  rate  of  six  or  seven  miles  an  hour. 
At  one  place  where  we  were  held  against  the  high  banks 
by  the  force  of  the  gale,  we  went  ashore,  and  much  to 
our  surprise  found  a  most  prolific  huckleberry  patca, 
where  we  all  regaled  ourselves  as  long  as  the  wind  lasted. 
These  berries  were  quite  common  along  this  part  of  the 
river,  and  nearly  every  canoe  that  put  off  from  a  camp  or 
village  would  have  one  or  two  trays  or  bowls  of  v  ,,r'l  or 
birch-bark  full  of  them,  which  the  natives  wr  t  u  to 
trade  for  tea  or  tobacco.     AVe  camped  in  what  is  called 


«?■¥ 


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DOWN  THE  RIVER  AND  HOME. 


321 


by  the  river  steamer  men  the  "cut-oflf  slough,"  Just 
south  of  the  mouth  of  the  Koyukuk  River,  a  northern 
tributary  of  considerable  dimensions,  which  empties  into 
the  Yukon  at  a  point  where  it  makes  a  short  but  bold 
bend  to  the  north,  the  "slough"  making  the  route  about 
one-fifth  shorter.  The  mouth  of  the  tributary  is  marked 
by  the  Koyukuk  Sopka  (hill),  a  high  eminence  which 
is  visible  for  many  miles  around.  This  feature  is  char- 
acteristic of  this  part  of  the  Yukon  Valley,  isolated  hills 
and  peaks  often  rising  precipitously  from  a  perfectly 
level  country. 

The  14th  saw  us  make  Nulato,  quite  an  historical  place 
on  the  river.  It  was  the  furthest  inland  trading  station 
of  the  old  Russian-American  Fur  Company  at  the  time 
of  our  purchase  of  Alaska,  and  had  been  used  as  such 
by  them,  under  different  names,  for  nearly  a  quarter  of 
a  century.  It  was  occupied  by  the  traders  of  the  Alaska 
Company  until  a  year  or  two  before  my  arrival,  as  well 
as  by  traders  of  the  "opposition,"  when  the  killing  of 
one  of  the  latter  led  to  trouble  witii  the  Indians,  so  that 
both  companies  withdrew. 

Many  years  ago,  one  cold  winter  night,  the  Russians 
oJ!  the  station  were  massacred,  along  with  a  number  of 
friendly  Indians  who  had  assembled  around  the  station. 
In  this  disaster  fell  an  English  naval  officer,  Lieuten- 
ant Barnard  by  name,  who  was  looking  for  traces  of  Sir 
John  Franklin,  even  in  this  out-of-the-way  corner  of  the 
earth.  A  respectable  head-board  marks  his  grave,  l)ut 
the  high  grass  and  willows  have  buried  it  almost  out  of 
sight. 

Here  also  lies  buried  a  locally  noted  Russian  charac- 
ter of  hard  reputation,  Kerchinikoff  by  name,  ^^h()se 


t 


■I 


888 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


story  was  told  me  by  more  than  one  of  the  traders,  who 
had  known  him  and  heard  of  his  doings  in  his  adven- 
turous cai'eer.  It  was  romancingly  said  by  way  of  illus- 
trating his  prowess  among  the  native  tribes,  that  if  the 
skulls  of  his  Indian  victims  had  been  heaped  together  in 
his  grave  they  would  not  only  till  it  but  enough  would 
have  remained  to  erect  a  high  monument  to  his  mem- 
ory. He  died  at  a  great  age,  having  been  from  his  very 
youth  a  terror  to  all  the  tribes  on  the  lower  river,  but 
wholly  in  the  interests,  as  he  interpreted  them,  of  thf; 
great  iron  monopoly  to  which  he  belonged.  Many 
years  ago  the  few  Russian  traders  of  the  Andreavsky 
station  had  been  massacred  by  the  Indians.  Kerchini- 
koff  asked  for  protection  and  a  sufficient  force  to  punish 
the  murderers,  and  those  at  Nulato  transmitted  his  re- 
quest to  the  headquarters  of  the  Russian  Fur  Company 
at  far-off  Sitka,  but  did  not  receive  even  the  courcesy  of 
an  answer.  With  one  or  two  companions  he  put  a  couple 
of  old  rusty  Russian  carronades  in  the  prow  of  his  trading 
boat, — the  identical  one  on  which  we  were  drifting  down 
the  river,  and  which  he  himself  had  built— and  in  lieu  of 
proi^er  ammunition,  which  he  was  unable  to  get,  he 
loaded  his  guns  with  spikes,  hing'  •  and  whatever  scraps 
of  iron  and  lead  he  could  pick  up  around  Michaeloffski, 
and  appearing  suddenly  before  the  Indian  village,  de- 
manded the  surrender  of  the  murderers.  The  natives 
gathered  in  a  great  crowd  on  the  shore  of  the  river, 
laughing  derisively  at  his  apparently  absurd  demands, 
having  never  even  heard  of  such  a  thing  as  a  cannon. 
Spears  were  hurled  and  arrows  shot  at  the  boat,  wlii(?h 
thereupon  slowlyjipproached,  having  its  cannon  pointed 
at  the  dense  crowd.     When  an  arrow  buried  itself  in 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  AND  HOME. 


323 


the  prow,  the  teiTible  report  of  the  two  oarronades 
made  answer,  and  about  a  score  of  Indians  were  stretched 
upon  the  beach,  wliile  the  wounded  and  panic-stricken 
fled  in  great  numbers  to  the  woods  for  protection.  From 
that  day  not  a  single  drop  of  white  man's  blood  was  ever 
shed  by  any  savages  upon  the  lower  river,  until  Kerchin- 
ikoff  himself,  while  lying  on  his  sledge  in  a  drunken 
stupor,  was  stabbed  to  death  almost  within  a  stone's 
throw  of  the  graves  of  those  whom  he  had  avenged. 

We  landed  at  Upper  Nulato  (the  "opposition"  store), 
and  here  encountered  a  half-breed  who  si)()ke  tolerable 
English,  and  who  pointed  out  the  places  just  men- 
tioned. 

"Hello,  where  you  come ? "  was  his  first  question,  to 
which  we  briefly  replied,  one  of  the  members  of  the 
party  remarking  it  was  quite  windy  hereabouts,  refer- 
ring to  the  three  or  four  days'  gale  we  had  had. 

"  AUee  time  like  that  now,"  was  his  cheerful  answer. 
This  neatly-dressed  young  fellow  took  me  down  to  his 
cache,  and  seemed  especially  delighted  in  showing  me 
his  new  "parka,"  or  reindeer  coat,  for  winter  wear.  It 
was  one  of  the  highly-prized  "spotted"  7?r;;A'a.s'.  The 
spotted  reindeer  are  bred  only  in  Asia,  and  their  hides — 
for  the  tribe  owning  them  will  never  allow  the  live  animals 
to  be  taken  away — find  their  way  into  Alaska  by  way  of 
Bering's  Straits  by  means  of  intertribal  barter,  while 
numbers  are  brought  by  the  Alaska  Company  from  Rus- 
sian ports  on  that  side,  and  are  used  as  trading  material 
with  such  tribes  as  wear  reindeer  clothing,  I  uITered  a 
^ood  price  for  this  particular  "parka,"  but  the  owner 
would  not  part  with  it,  as  they  are  especially  vuIiiMble 
and  tolerably  rare  at  this  distance  up  the  river,  and  only 


! 


I 

! 

^ 


T 


1    : 


884 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


the  wealtliiest  Indians  can  afford  to  buy  them.  He  told 
me  this  was  the  only  one  at  Nulato  at  the  time,  but  I  did 
not  know  how  much  faith  might  be  put  in  the  statement. 
Bad  as  the  weather  was,  we  got  a  good  series  of  observa- 
tions on  the  sun,  while  at  Nulato,  on  the  afternoon  of 
the  14th. 

On  the  15th  the  old  familiar  gale  from  ahead  put  in 
its  appearance  as  we  started  in  the  morning,  but  to  every 
body's  great  surprise  it  hauled  to  the  rear  in  the  middle 
of  the  afternoon,  and  when  we  camped  at  8:20  p.  m.,  hav- 
ing used  our  jib  in  sailing,  an  Indian  from  a  village  near 
by  told  us  the  jjlace  was  called  Kaltag ;  so  that  we  had 
made  an  extraordinary  run  under  all  the  circumstances. 
Indian  villages  were  quite  numerous  during  the  day. 
About  Kaltag  occurs  the  last  point  on  the  river  at  which 
high  ground  comes  down  to  the  water's  edge  on  the  left 
side,  and  for  the  rest  of  the  voyage,  a  distance  of  some 
five  hundred  miles,  precipitous  banks  only  are  found  on 
the  right  side,  while  the  country  to  the  left  resembles 
the  flat-lands  seen  further  back,  but  the  horizon  is  much 
more  limited  than  that  of  the  flat-lands,  hills  appearing 
in  the  background,  which  finally  become  isolated  peaks, 
or  short  broken  ranges. 

The  morning  of  the  16th  ushered  in  a  heavy  gale  from 
ahead,  accompanied  by  a  deluge  of  showers,  and  as  the 
camp,  57,  was  fortunately  situated  at  a  point  where  all 
the  channels  were  united,  so  that  the  river  steamer  could 
not  pass  unnoticed,  I  determined  to  remain  over. 

It  would  be  as  tiresome  to  my,  readers  as  it  was  aggra- 
vating to  us,  to  repeat  in  detail  the  old  story  of  our  start- 
ing wiJ^h  a  fair  wind,  its  change  to  a  gale  that  kef>t  us 
against  the  banks,  and  of  our  passing  a  few  Indian  towns. 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  AND  HOME. 


886 


Tliis  continuous  drifting  against  a  head  wind  taught 
us  one  singular  thing,  however,  viz,  :  that  our  boat  woukl 
drift  faster  against  this  wind  when  turned  broadside  to 
it  and  exposing  the  greatest  surface  to  its  action,  than 
when  facing  it  bow  or  stern  on  and  witli  a  niininium  of 
exposed  surface  ;  this  fact  being  the  very  reverse  of  what 
we  had  supposed,  indeed,  we  had  endeavored  to  avoid 
this  very  position.  Thereafter  we  l^ept  the^'barka'" 
broadside  to  the  head  wind,  a  very  difficult  undertaking, 
which  required  hard  and  constant  work  at  the  steering- 
oar  ;  but  the  mile  or  mile  and  a-half  an  hour  gained  over 
the  vessel's  drift  was  well  worth  it.  I  spoke  of  this  after- 
ward to  the  river  men  and  found  they  had  long  since 
anticipated  me  by  a  much  easier  contrivance,  viz.  :  by 
tying  an  anchor  or  a  large  camp-kettle  full  of  stones  and 
suspending  it  from  the  end  of  the  jib-boom  so  that  it 
would  trail  in  the  water.  This  method,  a  number  of  them 
assured  me,  would  liave  saved  our  work  at  the  steering 
oar  which  we  rigged  at  the  stern. 

The  18th  and  19tli  we  fought  our  way  down  the  river, 
inch  by  inch,  against  the  wind.  The  latter  night  the 
storm  culminated  in  a  perfect  hurricane,  felling  trees  in 
the  forest,  hurling  brush  through  the  air,  and  raising 
waves  four  and  five  feet  high,  from  whose  crests  Hew 
great  white  masses  of  foam,  the  wide  river  resembling  a 
sheet  of  boiling  milk  in  the  darkness.  Although  wf  were 
in  a  well-sheltered  cove,  which  hnd  renuuned  calm  the 
evening  before,  even  in  the  higli  wind,  yet  this  gale  sent 
in  such  huge  waves  that  our  "barka"  was  on  the  jmint 
of  being  wrecked,  and  was  only  snved  by  tlie  severest 
labor  of  the  crew.  The  little  bircli-bark  canoe  was  swept 
from  her  deck  and  thrown  high  up  on  the  beach,  where  it 


326 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


resembled  a  mass  of  brown  wrapping  paper  wliicli  the 
storm  had  beaten  down  upon  tlie  stones.  The  gale  slawly 
died  down  on  the  20th,  but  ceased  too  hite  to  give  us  a 
chance  to  start,  and  we  remained  over  night,  a  heavy  fog 
and  rain  terminating  tlie  day. 

On  the  21st  we  saw  a  couple  of  oomiens,  {hidarra — 
Russian)  or  large  skin-boats  being  hauled  up  stream  l)y 
native  dogs  on  the  bank,  somewhat  after  the  fashion  of 
canal-horses  on  a  tow-path.  We  had  baffling  winds  most 
of  the  day,  some  few  of  which  we  could  take  advantage 
of,  but  at  6  p.  M.  the  wind  had  settled  down  to  its  regular 
' '  dead-ahead ' '  gale. 

We  camped  at  half-past  nine  o'clock  at  Hall's  Rapids, 
(named  by  Raymond),  but  found  them  at  the  t^me  of  our 
visit  to  consist  only  of  some  rough  water  along  the  rocky 
beach,  while  the  high  land  mapped  by  him  on  the  south- 
eastern bank  was  wanting.  As  I  said  before,  tlie  high 
land  on  the  right  bank  with  low  country  upon  the  left  is 
a  state  of  things  which  continues  until  the  delta  is 
reached,  when  the  whole  countiy  becomes  level. 

About  six  or  seven  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  we  were 
passing  the  upper  ends  or  entrances,  seven  of  them  alto- 
gether, of  the  Shagelook  slough,  which  here  makes  a 
great  bend  to  the  eastward  and  incloses  an  area  larger 
than  some  of  the  New  England  states  before  it  again 
meets  the  Yukon  River  far  beyond.  This  Shagelook 
slough  receives  the  Innoka  River  in  its  upper  portion  and 
when  the  Yukon  is  the  higher  of  the  two  it  carries  part 
of  its  waters  into  the  upper  entrances  of  the  slough 
receiving  the  waters  of  the  Innoka,  and  both  streams 
emptying  theniselves  at  the  slough's  lower  end.  When 
the  Innoka  is  the  higher  its  waters  find  an  outlet  into 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  AND  HOME. 


327 


the  Yukon  by  the  upper  mouths.  We  now  began  to  feel 
anxious  about  the  "  Yukon,"  as  she  was  very  much  over- 
due. From  this  point  slie  could  make  St.  Miehaers  in 
three  or  four  days,  and  although  we  had  received  official 
assurances  from  Washington  that  the  revenue  cutter 
"Corwin"  would  not  leave  St.  Michael's  lief  ore  the  IHth 
of  September,  yet  there  was  fear  that  the  boat  might 
pass  us  or  the  "  Corwin  "  find  some  official  emergency  to 
call  her  elsewhere  before  this  date. 

The  night  of  the  21st-22d,  was  a  bitterly  cold  one, 
•verging  on  freezing,  and  we  slept  soundly  after  our  loss 
of  sleep  the  night  before.  We  started  quite  early,  how- 
ever, and  a  little  meteorological  suri)rise  in  the  shape  of 
a  favorable  wind  came  to  our  aid  after  10  a.  3i.,  and  at 
1:30  P.  M.  we  landed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Anvic  or  Anvik. 
The  picturesquely-situated  trading  station  is  about  a 
mile  or  a  mile  and  a-quarter  above  this  point,  l)ut  the 
shoals  were  so  numerous,  the  channel  so  winding,  that 
this  Avas  the  nearest  point  we  could  make,  es])ecially  with 
a  f(ml  wind.  Right  alongside  of  us  was  a  large  Indian 
village,  where  we  learned  to  our  satisfaction  that  the 
* '  Yukon ' '  had  not  yet  passed  ;  for  one  of  the  party  at  our 
last  camp  had  interpreted  some  Indian  information 
to  mean  that  the  boat  had  passed  down  two  days 
before. 

From  this  place  I  sent  a  courier  to  St.  ^vlichael's,  who 
was  to  ascend  the  Anvik  River  to  the  head  of  canoe  navi- 
gation, and  thence  to  make  a  short  portage  to  a  stream 
emptying  near  the  i)ost,  the  entire  distance  being  readily 
covered  in  three  days,  or  in  two  if  sufficient  energy  is 
displayed.  He  promised  to  be  there  without  fail  in  three 
days,  i.  e.,  by  the  25th,  and  I  paid  him  a  little  extra  for 


388 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


the  extra  exertion.  Tie  arrived  about  a  week  after  I  did 
and  we  were  ten  days  in  reaching  St.  Michael's  from  thia 
point.  My  object  was  to  let  the  "Corwin"  know  that 
my  party  was  coming.  The  "Leo,"  an  Alaskan  trading 
schooner,  was  also  exi)ected  to  touch  at  St.  Michael's  to 
exchange  some  signal  offi(^ers,  and  I  sent  word  to  her,  re- 
questing her  to  wait  for  us  if  the  "  Corwin  "  had  gone.  Mr. 
Fredericksen  was  the  trader,  and  a  very  intelligent  per- 
son for  su(^h  a  lonely  and  outlandish  spot.  He  had  been 
furnished  with  meteorological  instruments  by  the  Signal 
Service,  to  which  he  made  regular  reports.  He  inforjned 
me  tiiat  he  has  seen  ice  of  such  dex)th  by  the  4tli  of  Sej)- 
tember  as  to  cut  the  thick  covering  of  a  bidarra  or 
oomien  ;  but  this,  of  course,  is  very  unusual.  The  ye"v 
before  our  arrival — 1882 — the  ice  did  not  form  until 
12th  of  October,  and  the  iirst  of  that  month,  may  be  i  u- 
garded  as  the  average  date  of  its  formation. 

Mr.  Fredericksen  warmly  welcomed  my  arrival  at  his 
station,  having  recently  had  some  serious  trouble  with 
the  Indians,  who  were  not  even  yet  quieted.  A  number 
of  Shagelooks,  as  he  termed  them,  had  come  down  the 
river,  a  short  time  before,  to  meet  the  Greek  priest  from 
the  mission  at  Ikogmute,  who  had  come  to  Anvik  in  or- 
der to  baptize  them.  While  the  Shagelooks  were  wait- 
ing for  the  priest,  they  arranged  a  plot  to  rob  the  trader. 
Some  one  or  two  of  them  were  to  provoke  him  in  some 
exasperating  way,  and  if  he  showed  any  resistance  or 
even  annoyance,  the  others  were  to  side  with  their  fel- 
lows, seize  the  trader  and  se<uire  him  until  his  store  was 
plundered  and  the  booty  removed,  when  he  was  to  be 
liberated,  or  murdered  if  aggressive.  In  some  way  the 
Anviks  got  an  inkling  of  the  plot,  and  prepared  to  side 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  AND  HOME. 


329 


with  Mr.  Frederifksen,  and  wlien  the  prcliniinarit's  com- 
menced with  tlie  cutting  open  of  one  of  the  trader's, 
finest  skin-boats — bidarra — the  Shagehmks  saw  them- 
selves confronted  by  sium  an  array  of  well-armed  Anvik  In- 
dians, that  they  were  perfectly  satisfied  to  lot  the  business 
drop.  The  christening  was  carried  out  according  to  pro- 
gramme, but  the  battled  Shagelooks  vowed  vengeance  on 
both  the  Anviks  and  the  trader  whenever  an  opportunity 
might  occur,  and  they  were  not  reticent  in  so  informing 
him  at  their  departure,  hinting  that  their  turn  might 
come  when  the  Anviks  left  to  hunt  leindeer  for  their 
winter  supply  of  clothing.  That  season  wt>uld  soon  be 
at  hand,  and  the  Anviks  liad  the  alternative  of  losing 
their  autumn  hunting  or  of  leaving  the  station  in  a 
weakened  condition  at  their  dei)arture.  The  arrival  of 
a  body  of  troops,  small  in  number  as  we  were,  was  a 
cause  of  congratulation,  and  iMr.  Frederickson  intended 
to  make  the  most  out  of  it  with  discontented  natives  by 
way  of  strengthening  his  position. 

We  could  do  absolutely  nothing  for  him.  When  the 
president  withdrew  the  military  forces  from  Alaska,  the 
executive  order  had  "clinched  "  the  act  by  providing  that 
the  military  should  exercise  no  further  control  wluitever 
in  that  vast  teriitory,  and  my  orders  had  emi>hatically 
repeated  the  clause.  In  fact,  it  was  a  debatable  i)()int 
whether  my  expedition  was  not  strictly  an  illegal  one. 
and  in  direct  violation  of  the  president's  order,  since  it 
was  simply  impossible  to  send  in  a  military  party  that 
might  not  exercise  control  over  its  own  members,  which 
is  all  that  soldiers  ever  do  without  an  order  from  the 
president,  and  as  to  an  attack  by  Indians  we  had  the 
universal  right  of  self-preservation.     I  told  Mr.  Freder- 


4| 


1J30 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


icksen,  however,  to  make  the  most  out  oi  my  visU,  which 
I  siipi)os8  he  did. 

A  foresail  was  borrowed  from  liim,  with  which  I  coiikl 
iriak  >  my  way  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  to  V>t.  Michael' s, 
should  any  accident  have  happened  to  the  ' '  Yuk on. "  It 
was  too  large  and  would  have  to  be  cut  to  fit,  an  expe- 


IsiHifflP! 


ANVIK. 
(Looking  down  both  the  Yukon  and  Anvik  Rivers.) 

dient  to  which  I  did  not  intend  to  resort  until  ne  reached 
the  mouth  of  the  river. 

Mr.  Frederick  sen's  station  is  on  the  banks  of  both  the 
Yukon  and  the  Anvik,  as  the  streams  npi)roach  within 
about  fifty  or  seventy-five  yards  of  each  other  at  this 
point,  although  their  confiuence  occurs,  as  I  have  said, 
about  r  mile  below.  The  illustration  above  is  from 
the  station  looking  toward  tlie  \M,\i\t  of  confiuence. 
When  the  present  trader  first  came  to  the  station  a  few 


mmm 


mmm 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  AND  HOME. 


331 


years  previously,  the  two  rivers  were  fur  apart  at  tliis 
point,  but  tlie  Anvik  has  encroached  so  hirgely  upon  its 
left  bank  that  Mr.  Fredericksen  expected  another  year 
to  unite  the  streams  at  his  place,  if  the  Anvik  did  not 
actually  sweep  him  away  or  force  him  to  change  his 
residence. 

An;  ik  is  the  last  station  in  the  Indian  country,  and  at 
Makagamuto,  thirty  or  forty  miles  below,  the  Eskimo 
begin  to  appear,  and  continue  from  that  jxiint  to  the 
mouth  of  the  river. 

We  star^'ed  again  on  the  23d,  with  a  fine  l)reeze  behind 
us,  passing  Makagamute  or  moot  (pronounced  like  boot, 
shoot),  at  1:30  p.m.  It  was  composed  of  eiglit  or  ten 
houses  of  a  most  si'bstantkd  build,  flanked  and  backed 
by  fifteen  to  twenty  caches,  and  had  altogether  a  most 
prosperous  ajipearance,  impi'essing  a  stranger  with  the 
suj)erioiUy  of  ihe  Eskimo  over  their  neighbors.  The 
doors  were  singular  little  circular  or  rounded  holes,  vnry 
like  exaggerated  specimens  of  the  cottage  bird-houses, 
which  some  people  erect  for  their  feathered  fritnids. 
Villages  were  much  more  numerous  on  the  23d,  tlum 
upon  any  i)revious  day  of  our  voyage.  Every:vliere 
might  be  seen  their  ti'aps  and  nets  for  catching  salmon, 
of  which  fi.sh  they  must  capture  enormous  (piantities,  for 
they  live  upon  salmon  the  ;  ear  round. 

Myriads  ol  geese  might  be  observed  in  all  directions 
during  this  fine  weather,  pre])aring  and  nio))ilizing  for 
their  autumnal  Hinigiation  to  the  south  ;  and  the  air 
w.'^s  vocal  with  their  cries. 

On  the  night  of  the  23d  we  had  a  severe  frost,  the 
heavy  sedge  grass  near  camj)  being  literally  white  with 
it,  and  the  cook  was  heard  grumbling  about  the  (;on- 


.  r 


f 


f 


332 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


dition  oi  his  dishclotli,  wliich  was  a))out  as  flexible  as  a 
battered  niilk-imn,  until  thawed  out  by  means  of  hot 
water.  The  few  musquitoes  we  sa  w  next  morning  were 
pitiable  looking  creatures,  although  I  doubt  very  mucli 
whether  any  sentiment  was  wasted  on  them.  However 
much  the  cold  spell  threatened  to  hasten  the  arrival  of 
winter,  and  to  send  the  ships  at  St.  Michael's  flying 
south,  yet  the  discomfiture  of  the. mosquitoes  afforded  us 
a  good  deal  of  consolation,  and  thereafter  our  annoy- 
ances from  this  source  were  but  trifling. 

Starting  at  8  a.m.  with  ahead  breeze,  by  ten  o'clock 
the  wind  had  become  a  gale  and  we  were  scarcely  making 
half  a  mile  an  hour,  when  at  2:20  p.m.  we  saw  the 
steamer  "Yukon,"  with  the  St.  Michael's  in  tow,  coming 
round  a  high  precipitous  point  about  three  miles  abaft 
of  us,  and  there  went  up  a  shout  of  welcome  from  our 
boat  that  drowned  even  the  voice  of  the  gale,  and  almost 
simultaneously  the  flash  of  a  dozen  guns  went  up  frc!a 
both  the  "Yukon's"  decks  and  our  own.  The  point 
around  which  tho  steamer  had  been  sighted,  a  con- 
spicuous landmark,  I  named  Petersen  Point,  after  Captain 
Petersen  of  the  "  Yukon,"  that  being  the  only  name  I 
gave  on  the  river  below  old  Fort  Y'ukon.  In  about  half- 
an-hour  the  steamer  was  alongside  and  we  were  taken  in 
tow,  and  once  more  began  cleaving  the  water,  in  defiance 
of  the  gale. 

The  captain  knew  we  had  started  from  Anvik  the  day 
before,  but  our  progress  on  the  first  day  had  been  so 
great  that  he  had  become  uneasy  for  fear  he  might  have 
passed  us.  He  had  kept  the  whistle  going  at  frequent 
intervals,  but  of  course  knew  that  it  could  not  be  heard 
far  in  such  a  gale.     If  we  had  not  yet  reached  the 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  AND  HOME. 


333 


Mission  when  he  arrived  there,  he  intended  to  return 
for  us. 

We  made  the  Mission  that  evening  at  the  upper  or 
"opposition"  store,  which  was  being  torn  down,  and 
the  best  logs  of  which  were  to  go  on  board  the  river 
steamer  to  be  taken  to  Andreavsky,  the  trading  station 
kept  by  Captain  Petersen  when  not  in  cliarge  of  the 
boat. 

By  next  morring  at  nine  o'clock  we  had  these  securely 
lashed  to  the  sides  and  were  under  way,  stojiping  three 
miles  below  at  the  Mission  proi)er.  Here  is  an  old  Greek 
church,  presided  over  by  a  half-breed  x^i'if^t,  which 
looke  d  strangely  enough  in  this  far-away  c(jrner  of  the 
world.  The  interior  was  litted  up  with  all  the  ornaments 
customary  in  the  Greek  church,  the  solid  silver  and 
brass  of  more  stately  structures  in  Kussia  being  repro- 
duced in  tinsel  and  trappings  o'"  a  cheapei-  kind.  The 
Greek  priest  is  also  the  A  In  si;  a  Company's  trader,  and 
he  came  aboard  to  go  to  MicUaeFs  to  get  a  winter's 
supply  of  trading  material  fur  liis  storf'.  His  handsome 
little  sloojj  was  tied  behind  the  big  "baika  '  to  be 
towed  along,  while  from  its  stern  th«'  line  ran  to  the 
sloop's  yawl,  in  which  an  Indian  had  been  Jillowed  to 
come,  he  tying  his  little  skin  canoe  behind  th«'  >  a  wl,  thus 
making  a  queue  of  vessels  of  rapidly  (liniinishing 
sizes,  quite  ludicrous  in  appearance.  With  tl*'  St. 
Michael's  alongside  in  tow,  and  our  guards  pil  I  with 
hewn  logs  as  far  as  the  upper  deck,  we  were  a  motley 
crowd  indeed  when  under  way.  The  captain  explained 
his  unusual  delay  on  the  trip  by  the  fact  that  the 
"Yukon"  had  blown  out  a  cylinder-head  just  after  leav- 
ing St.  Michael's  Bar  and  while  trying  to  make  Belle  Isle, 


334 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


for  which  reason  their  return  voyage  liad  to  be  made 
under  reduced  steam  in  order  to  avoid  a  rej)etition  of  the 
accident. 

A  serio-comic  incident  connected  with  this  mishap 
deserves  to  be  recounted.  ^  mong  their  Eskinio  deck- 
hands was  a  powerful  young  fellow,  deaf  as  a  i)()st,  who 
always  slept  in  the  engine-room  when  off  duty,  with  his 
head  resting  on  a  huge  cross  deck-beam  as  a  pillow,  at  a 
point  in  front  of  the  engine  that  had  broken  down. 
Whenever  he  was  wanted,  as  there  was  no  use  in  calling 
him,  they  would  walk  up  and  tap  him  with  the  foot,  or, 
?s  they  soon  learned,  a  stout  kick  on  any  part  of  the 
beam  would  suffice  ;  whereupon  he  would  sit  uj),  give 
a  great  yawn,  stretch  his  arms  and  l^e  ready  for  work. 
When  the  cylinder-head  of  the  engine  blew  out,  it  struck 
the  beam  directly  opposite  his  own  head,  and  buried 
itself  until  the  spot  looked  afterward  as  though  a  chain- 
shot  had  struck  it ;  but  with  no  more  effe<5t  on  the  deaf 
Eskimo  than  to  make  him  rise  up  and  yawn,  and  begin 
to  stretch  himself,  when  the  rush  of  steam  from  the  next 
stroke  of  the  engine  completely  enveloped  him,  before 
the  engineer  could  interfere,  and  he  comprehended  that 
he  was  not  being  awakened  to  go  to  work.  He  got  off 
with  a  trifling  scald  on  the  back  of  his  neck  ;  but  his 
escape  from  death  seemed  miraculous. 

All  that  day  we  stopped  about  every  couple  of  hours 
to  take  on  wood,  which  fortunately  had  been  cut  for  us 
beforehand  in  most  places,  so  tliat  the  delays  were  not 
very  long.  In  ascending  or  descending  the  riAer,  the 
steamer  finds  a  considerable  quantity  of  the  wood  it 
requires  already  cut  at  convenient  points,  the  natives 
of  course  being  paid  for  their  laboi".      This  is  the  case 


map 


■^ 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  AND  HOME. 


335 


between  the  river's  mouth  and  Nuklakayet,  or  there- 
abouts, but  above  this  point,  and  even  at  many  places 
below  it  the  captain  is  obliged  to  go  ashore  near  a 
great  pile  of  drift-wood,  and  send  a  dozen  axuien  to  do 
this  duty.  The  greater  part  of  the  huge  stockade  of  old 
Fort  Yukon  and  some  of  its  minor  buildings  have  for 
several  years  supplied  them  with  wood  when  in  the 
neighborhood.  We  stopped  the  night  of  the  2i)th  near 
a  native  village,  and  as  we  were  to  start  very  early  in  the 
morning,  the  doctor  and  myself,  at  the  cajitain's  invita- 
tion, made  our  beds  under  the  table,  oii  the  dining-room 
floor  of  the  steamer,  that  being  the  first  time  we  had 
slept  under  a  roof  since  leaving  Ohilkat ;  although  the 
doctor  made  some  irrelevant  remarks  about  a  table  not 
being  a  roof,  evidently  wanting  to  extend  bac^k  the 
period  of  our  claim. 

On  the  26tli,  running  about  twelve  hours,  less  our  time 
at  "wooding"  places,  we  made  Andreavsky,  and  nearly 
the  whole  of  the  next  day  was  spent  in  unhjading  the 
logs,  mooring  the  St.  Michael's  in  winter  (piarters,  and 
washing  down  de(;ks,  for  it  was  to  this  point  tnat  the 
"•Yukon"  would  return  for  the  winter  after  making  St. 
Michael's.  The  hills  of  the  right  bank  rai)i<lly  dimin- 
ish in  height  as  one  approaches  Andreavsky,  and  in  the 
vicinity  of  that  place  are  only  entitled  to  the  name  of 
high  rolling  ground.  Near  the  river  the  trees  (lisai>pear 
and  are  replaced  by  willow-brake,  although  the  up- 
stream ends  of  the  numerous  islands  ai'e  still  covered 
with  great  masses  of  drift  timber,  containing  logs  of  the 
largest  dimensions.  Before  Andreavsky  is  reached  we 
come  to  the  delta  of  the  Yukon,  an  interminable  con- 
course of  islands  and  channels  never  yet  fully  explored. 


.  i 


I 


'■:»? 


836 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


From  the  most  northerly  of  these  mouths  to  the  most 
southerly  is  a  distance  of  about  ninety  miles,  accoixling 
to  local  computation. 

Late  as  it  was  when  we  started  on  the  27th,  we  reached 
a  point  half  way  to  Coatlik,  where  wood  was  cut  by 
our  crew  i'*  r  the  morning's  start.  All  semblance  of 
rolling  country  had  now  disappeared,  except  in  the  dis- 
tance, and  the  country  was  as  flat  as  the  lower  delta  of 
the  Mississippi. 

Coatlik,  seven  miles  from  the  Aphoon  or  northernmost 
mouth,  was  reached  next  day  at  1  p.  m.,  and  we  spent 
the  afternoon  in  preparing  the  boilers  for  the  change  to 
saltwater,  and  in  taking  on  another  log  house,  which 
was  to  be  transported  to  St,  Michael's,  there  to  be  used 
in  completing  a  Greek  church  in  course  of  erection. 

Starting  at  early  daylight  on  the  morning  of  the  20th, 
a  steam-valve  blew  out,  and  it  looked  as  if  we  should  be 
delayed  two  or  three  days  for  repairs,  but  the  captain 
fixed  up  an  ingenious  contrivance  with  a  jack-screw  as 
a  substitute,  and  at  half-past  nine  in  the  morning  we 
again  proceeded.  Soon  afterward  we  reached  the 
Aphoon  mouth  of  the  river,  Avliere  we  commenced  the 
slow  and  tedious  threading  of  its  shallow  cliannels  be- 
tween their  mud  banks.  For  imtold  ages  this  swift, 
muddy  river  has  deposited  its  sediment  up(m  the  shallow 
eastern  shores  of  Bering's  Sea,  until  mud  and  sand  banks 
have  been  thrown  up  for  seventy  or  eighty  miles  beyond 
the  delta,  making  it  unsafe  for  vessels  of  any  draft  to 
cross  them  even  in  moderate  weather.  St.  Michael's  is 
the  nearest  port  to  the  mouth  at  which  vessels  of  any 
size  can  enter  and  anchor.  The  heavy  wind  still  raging 
made  it  difficult  to  steer  the  boat  through  the  winding 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  AND  HOME. 


337 


channels,  and  this,  coupled  with  the  heavy  load  of  lo^i^s 
that  weighed  us  to  the  guards,  sent  us  a  dozen  times  on 
the  low  mud  flats,  to  escape  from  which  gnve  us  uuu'h 
trouble.  Our  delay  at  Coatlik  had  also  lost  us  some 
of  the  tide,  there  being  about  two  feet  of  wsiter  on  tlie 
bar  at  ebb  and  nearly  as  much  more  at  Hood  tide.  So 
shallow  is  the  stream  that  the  channel  is  indicated  by 
willow  canes  stuck  in  the  mud,  at  convenient  intervals, 
serving  the  purpose  of  buoys.  Near  the  Aphoon  niouth 
comes  in  the  Pastolik  River,  and  once  across  tlie  bur  of 
mud  near  the  confluence,  the  (channel  of  the  latter 
stream  is  followed  to  deep  water.  This  muddy  sedi- 
ment is  very  light  and  easily  stirred  uj),  and  wlien  a 
storm  is  raging  the  whole  sea  as  far  as  the  eye  can 
reach  resembles  an  angry  lake  of  mud.  From  the  Pns- 
tolik  River  on,  the  westerly  wind  gradually  increased 
to  a  gale,  the  sea  running  very  high  and  making  many 
of  us  quite  sea-sick.  Fearing  to  round  Point  Roman! - 
zoff,  the  captain  \mf  'oack  and  anchored  in  a  sonicNvlmt 
sheltered  cove,  returning  about  half  way  to  the  Pasto- 
lik. A  flat-bottomed  rivei*  boat  anchored  in  Bering's 
Sea  during  a  gale,  loaded  with  a  log-houj^e  and  towing  a 
number  of  craft,  certainly  did  not  seem  a  very  safe  abid- 
ing place. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  3()th  we  got  und^r  way, 
the  weather  having  moderated  coasiderably  during  tlie 
night,  and  constantly  improving  as  we  proceeded.  We 
rounded  Cape  Romantzoff  about  the  middle  of  tlie  fore- 
noon, and  as  we  i)assed  between  Stuart  and  St.  Mi<'liaers 
Islands,  shortly  before  noon,  nothing  was  left  of  yester- 
day's angry  sea  but  a  few  long  ground  swells,  which  dis- 
turbed us  but  little.     At  noon  we  rounded  the  point  that 


I 


338 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


hid  the  little  village  of  St.  Michael's,  and  were  received 
by  a  salute  of  three  discharges  from  as  many  ancient 
Russian  carronades,  to  which  we  responded  vigorously 
with  the  whistle.  All  eyes  swept  the  bay  for  signs  of 
the  "Cor win,"  but  a  boat  putting  off  from  shore  told  us 
that  she  had  left  on  the  10th  of  August,  nearly  three 
weeks  before. 

The  ' '  Leo, ' '  which  was  due  about  the  15th  of  the  month, 
had  not  yet  arrived,  and  although  it  was  known  that 
she  had  a  signal  observer  on  board  to  take  the  place  of 
the  one  now  at  St.  Michael's,  it  was  not  positive  that  she 
would  arrive  there  at  all,  if  hampered  with  heavy  gales. 
She  had  been  chartered  by  the  government  to  proceed  to 
Point  Barrow,  on  the  Arctic  coast  of  Alaska,  and  take 
on  board  Lieutenant  Ray's  party  of  the  International 
Meteorological  Station  at  that  point,  and  it  was  not 
altogether  certain  that  she  might  not  have  been  wrecked 
in  the  ice  while  engaged  in  this  somewhat  hazardous 
undertaking ;  the  chances  varying  considerably  each 
season  according  to  the  state  of  the  ice  and  the  weather. 
The  state  of  the  latter  might  be  inferred  from  the  fact 
that  the  day  of  our  arrival  was  the  first  tine  one  they  had 
had  at  the  redoubt  (as  St.  Michael's  is  called  here  and  in 
the  Yukon  valley),  for  over  six  weeks,  during  which 
there  had  been  an  almost  continuous  storm. 

There  was  also  a  vessel,  the  "Alaska,"  at  Golovnin  Bay, 
about  sixty  miles  north  of  St.  Michael's,  across  Norton 
Sound,  which  was  loading  with  silver  ore  for  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  was  expected  to  depart  about  the  1st  of 
October.  It  was  possible  that  she  might  call  here,  en 
route,  tis  the  mining  company  to  which  she  belonged  had 
a  considerable  quantity  of  material  stored  at  this  point. 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  AND  HOME. 


339 


The  evening  of  the  3()tli  we  spent  iit  ii  dance  in  the 
Eskimo  village  near  by,  after  which  we  went  on  board 
the  "  Yukon  "  to  sleep,  which  however  was  almost  impos- 
sible on  account  of  the  boat's  heavy  rolling  while  at 
anchor. 

I  was  a  little  surprised  to  find  that  I  could  carry  on 
even  a  very  limited  conversation  with  the  Eskimo  of  this 
locality,  the  last  of  that  tribe  I  had  lived  among  being 
the  natives  of  the  north  Hudson's  Bay  regions,  of  whose 
existence  these  Eskimo  knew  nothing. 

On  the  31st  I  sent  a  couple  of  Eskimo  couriers  to  the 
"Alaska"  at  Golovnin  Bay,  asking  her  to  call  at  this 
port  in  order  to  take  my  party  on  board,  after  which  I 
sat  down  to  await  results.  Meantime  we  had  moved  on 
shore  into  Mr.  Leavitt's  house,  which  was  kindly  i)ut  at 
our  disposal.  Mr.  Leavitt  was  the  signal  observer,  and 
had  been  stationed  here  over  three  years,  and  he  was  as 
anxiously  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  "I^o"  as  our- 
selves. 

St.  Michael's,  Michaelovski,  or  "the  redoubt."  as  it  is 
variously  called — St.  Michael's  Redoubt  being  theotficial 
Russian  title,  translated  into  English — is  a  little  village 
on  an  island  of  the  same  name,  comprising  about  a  dozen 
houses,  all  directly  or  indirectly  devoted  to  the  affairs 
of  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company.  Mr.  Neumann 
was  the  superintendent,  and  a  very  agreeable  and  atl'able 
gentleman  we  found  him,  doing  much  to  make  our  short 
stay  at  the  redoubt  pleasant.  There  are  no  fresh  water 
springs  on  the  island  near  the  post,  and  every  few  days 
a  large  row-boat  is  loaded  with  water-barrels  and  taken 
to  the  mainland,  where  four  or  five  days'  supply  is 
secured.     The   "opposition"   store,  three  miles  across 


840 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


the  bay,  seems  much  better  situated  in  this  and  other 
respects,  but  when  St.  Michael's  was  selected  by  the 
Russians  over  a  third  of  a  century  jneviously,  the  id*  a 
of  defensibility  was  the  controlling  motive.  The  passage 
between  the  island  and  the  mainland  is  a  river-like 
channel,  and  was  formerly  used  by  the  river  steanu-r 
until  Captain  Petersen  became  master,  when  he  boklly 
put  out  to  sea,  as  a  preferable  route  to  "  the  slough,"  as 
it  is  sometitnes  called,  there  being  a  number  of  danger- 
ous rocks  in  the  latter. 

On  the  evening  of  the  31st  we  again  visited  the  Eskimo 
village,  in  company  with  most  of  the  white  men  of  the 
redoubt,  in  order  to  see  the  pe»-formance  of  a  noted 
"medicine-man"  or  shaman  from  the  Golovnin  Bay 
district.  He  was  to  show  us  some  savage  sleight-of-hand 
performances,  and  to  foretell  the  probability  and  time 
of  the  ''Leo's  "  arrival.  In  the  latter  operation  he  took  a 
large  blue  bead  and  crushing  it  to  fnigments  threw  it  out 
of  doors  into  the  sea,  "sending  it  to  the  schoonei',"  as 
he  said.  After  a  long  and  tiresome  rigmarole,  another 
bliu;  bead  was  i)roduced  which  lie  affirmed  to  be  the  same 
one,  telling  us  that  it  had  been  to  the  vessel,  and  by 
returning  whole  testified  her  safety.  A  scmiewhat  similar 
performance  with  a  quarter  of  a  silver  dollar  told  him  that 
the  "Leo"  would  arrive  at  St.  Michael's  about  the  next 
new  moon.  There  was  nothing  remarkable  about  these 
tricks  ;  and  another  of  tying  his  hands  behind  him  to  a- 
heavy  plank,  and  then  bringing  them  to  the  front  of  his 
body,  and  lifting  the  board  from  the  floor  of  the  medicine 
house,  was  such  a  palpable  deception  as  to  puzzle  no  one. 

This  polar  priest,  however,   had  a  great  reputation 
among  the  natives  all  about   Norton  Sound.     He  had 


i 


.Lv 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  AND  HOME. 


341 


.1:^^' 


predicted  the  loss  of  the  JeaniwUe  and  the  consequent 
death  of  tlie  two  Eskimo  from  this  point.  IA)r  his  fiivorabhi 
news  Mr.  Neumann  rewarded  him  with  a  sack  of  tiom-; 
and  I  suppose  he  would  have  been  i>erfectly  willing  to 
furnish  nioi'e  good  news  for  more  Hour. 

The  next  day  I  took  a  genuine  Russian  bath  in  a  house 
ere(5ted  many  years  ago  for  that  purpose  by  tiie  Russians. 
It  nuiy  be  more  cleansing,  but  it  is  less  comfortable  than 
the  counterfeit  Russian  bath  as  administered  in  American 
cities. 

The  2d  .Q^^September  was  the  warmest  day  they  had 
had  that  sumnierTtTielliermometer  marking  (55°  Fahren- 
heit. Late  in  the  afternoon  the  "Yukon''  setout  on  her 
return  to  Andreavsky  amidst  a  salute  from  the  carron- 
ades  and  the  s(!reaniing  of  the  steam-whistle. 

On  the  3d  my  Golovnin  Bay  couriers,  who  I  sui>[K)sed 
had  started  on  the  preceding  day.  and  were  thcnfoity 
or  iifty  miles  away  on  their  journey,  came  nonchjilantly 
to  me  and  reported  their  departure.  1  bade  tlieiii 
good-by,  and  told  them  not  to  delay  on  the  idea  that  I 
wanted  the  "Alaska"  next  year  and  not  tliis,  and 
promising  me  seriously  to  remember  this,  they  departed. 
The  next  day — the 4th — they  returned,  having  forgotten 
their  sugar,  an  article  of  luxury  they  had  not  enjoyed  for 
months  previously,  and  again  departed.  I  expected  to 
see  them  return  in  two  or  three  days  for  a  string  to  tie 
it  up  with,  but  their  outtit  must  have  been  com])lete  this 
time,  for  I  never  saw  or  heaid  of  them  again  ;  but  I  could 
not  help  thinking  what  valu.able  messenger  service  the 
telegraph  companies  w^ere  losing  in  this  far-away  country. 

Sure  enough,  on  the  8th  of  the  month  the  "  Leo"  bore 
down  in  a  gale  and  was  soon  anchored  in  the  bay,  whei'e 


342 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


we  l)o;ir(led  her.  Although  aheat^y  oveirrowded  for  a 
little  Hchooner  of  about  two  hundred  tons,  Lieutenant 
Ray  kindly  made  room  for  my  additional  party,  there 
being  by  thi«  addition  about  thirty-five  on  board  and 
seventeen  in  the  little  cabin.  While  trying  to  make 
Point  Barrow,  the  '*  Leo  "  had  been  nii)ped  in  the  ice  and 
had  her  stem  split  and  started,  sustaining  other  injuries 
the  extent  of  which  could  not  be  ascertained.  She  was 
leaking  badly,  requiring  about  five  or  ten  minutes  at  the 
pumps  every  hour,  but  it  was  intended  to  try  and  make 
San  Francisco,  unless  the  leaking  increased  in  a  gale, 
when  she  was  to  be  rei)aired  at  Oonalaska,  and  if  mat- 
ters came  to  the  worst  she  would  be  condemned. 

A  few  days  were  spenc  in  (^hatting  of  our  experiences, 
getting  fresh  v/at<^r  ini  board  and  exchanging  signal 
observers,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  11th,  at  0  a.m., 
under  a  salute  ot  six  guns,  we  weighed  anchor  and 
started,  with  a  strong  head  wind  that  kept  constnntly 
increasing.  This  gale  was  from  the  north-west,  and  as 
we  had  to  beat  a  long  distance  in  that  direction  in  order 
to  clear  the  great  mud  banks  off  the  delta  of  the  Yukon, 
so  little  X)rogress  was  made  that  after  an  all  day's  fight 
we  ran  back  to  St.  Michael's  in  an  hour's  time  and 
dropped  anchor  once  more,  to  await  a  change  in  the 
weather.  Next  day  we  got  away  early  and  managed  to 
beat  a  little  on  our  course.  The  13th  gave  us  an  almost 
dead  calm  until  late  in  the  afternoon,  when  we  caught  a 
fine  breeze  abaft  and  rounded  the  Yukon  banks  about 
midnight.  This  favorable  breeze  increased  to  a  light 
gale  next  day  and  we  pounded  along  at  the  rate  of  ten 
or  eleven  knots  an  hour. 

On  the  15th  the  gale  continued  and  so  incr^^ased  the 


DOWN  THE  JilVEli  AND  HOME. 


»43 


next  day  that  tneiiiu;^  .saw  um  "liove  to"  for  fear  of 
running  into  Oonala.ska  Lsland  during  the  night.  Thiw 
run  across  Bering's  Sea  in  less  than  three  days  wns  stated 
by  our  master,  Ca}«tain  Jacobsen,  to  be  the  best  sailing 
record  across  that  sheet  of  water. 

The  morning  of  the  17th  opened  still  and  calm,  with 
a  number  of  the  Aleutian  islands  looming  up  directly 
ahead  of  us  in  bokl  relief.  A  very  light  breeze  sjjrjing 
up  about  noon,  and  with  its  help  at  (5  p.m.  wc  entered 
the  heads  of  Oonalaska  harbor,  and  at  nine  o'chx'k  w»i 
droi)ped  anchor  in  the  dark  about  half  a  mile  from  the 
town.  Most  of  us  visited  the  place  that  night  and  had  a 
very  p'easant  reception  by  Mr.  Neumann,  the  agent  ol 
the  Alaska  Company.  Here  we  found  that  company's 
steamer  the  "Dora,"  and  the  revenue-cutter  "Corwin," 
which  had  been  lying  here  since  leaving  St.  Michael's. 
These  two  vessels  and  everybody  generally  were  waiting 
for  the  Alaska  Company's  large  steamer  "  St.  Paul  "from 
San  Francisco,  upon  whose  arrival  the  ''Dora,"  was  to 
distribute  the  material  received  for  the  various  trading 
stations  on  the  Aleutian  Islands  and  the  mainland  adja- 
cent ;  the  "  Corwin  "  would  sail  for  some  i)oint  or  other, 
no  one  could  find  out  where,  and  the  residents  would 
settle  down  for  another  year  of  monotonous  life. 

The  last  day's  gale  on  Bering  Sea  had  left  no  doubt  on 
the  minds  of  those  in  cliarge  tiiat  the  ''  Leo"  would  have 
to  be  repaired,  accordingly  she  was  lightened  by  dis- 
charging her  load,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  2()th  she 
was  beached  near  by,  the  fall  of  the  tide  being  suffi- 
cient to  reveal  her  injuries,  and  to  allow  of  temporary 
repair. 

We  passed  our  time  in  strolling  around  examining  the 


.  II I  mum" 


344 


ALONG  ALASKA'S  GREAT  RIVER. 


islands,  while  some  of  the  party  got  out  their  lishing- 
ta(;kle  and  succseeded  in  seciiring  a  few  fine  tliough 
small  trout  from  the  clear  mountain  streams. 

This  grand  chain  of  islands  jutting  <>ut  boldly  into  the 
broad  Pacific  receives  the  warm  wateis  of  the  Japanese 
current — Kuro  Siwo — a  deflected  continuation  of  a  i)art 


OO^  ALASKA. 

of  the  Pacific  equatorial  currei  !  corresponding  to  our  gulf 
stream.  From  this  sourc^e  it  derives  a  warmer  climate 
than  is  possessed  by  any  body  of  land  so  near  the  pole, 
although  it  lies  in  about  the  same  parallels  as  the  British 
Ishiiids.  The  cold  of  zero  and  the  oi)pessive  heat  of 
summer  are  equally  unknown  to  this  region,      (brasses 


DOWN  THE  RIVER  AND  HOME. 


345 


^row  luxuriantly  every  where,  upon  wliicli  tlie  reindeer 
used  to  graze  in  numerous  herds,  tlieir  keen  siglit  and 
the  absence  of  timber  i)rotecting  them  from  the  lude 
weapons  of  tlie  native  hunters  until  the  introduetion  of 
iireai'ms,  after  whicli  they  were  rapidly  exterminatetl. 
In  a  few  days  we  heard  with  pleasure  that  the  "'Leo"  was 
ready  and  we  soon  (piitted  Alaska  foi"  good.  The  north- 
west winds  sang  a  merry  song  through  our  sails  as  the 
meridians  and  parallels  took  on  smaller  numbei-s.  and  in 
a  very  few  days,  the  twinkling  twin  lights  of  the  Faral- 
lones  greeted  our  eyes,  and  an(!liored  safely  within  the 
Golden  Gate,  our  journey  ended. 


i 


.4 


—       -^i"""^"."*  <     "  ' '  "*^^^Hipii«iiiiiPi«piiii|inq|iii|ipiHp|B|||| 


APPENDIX  NO.   I. 


PROFESSOR  SERENO  WATSON's  "  NOTE  ON  THE  FLORA  OF 

THE   UPPER  YUKON." 

(From  the  Science,  of  Cambridge,  Masg.,  February  29. 1884.) 

Lieut.  Schwatka  was  able  to  make  a  small  botanical 
collection  from  about  the  head  waters  of  the  Yukon, 
which  if  of  considerable  interest  as  an  indication  of  the 
climate  of  the  region,  and  as  showing  the  range  nortli- 
ward  into  the  Yukon  valley,  of  some  species  previously- 
known  scarcely  beyond  the  British  boundary.  Lieut. 
Schwatka,  ascending  from  the  head  of  Chilkoot  Inlet, 
crossed  the  main  coast-range  by  the  Perrier  Pass,  at  an 
altitude  of  4,100  feet,  coming  at  once  upon  the  source  of 
the  Yukon  River,  in  latitude  59°  40'.  A  descent  of 
twelve  miles  brought  him  to  Lake  Lindeman  ;  and  upon 
the  borders  of  this  and  other  lakes  within  a  distance  of 
twenty-five  miles,  nearly  equally  on  both  sides  of  the 
sixtieth  parallel,  the  larger  part  of  the  collection  was 
made,  between  the  12th  and  loth  of  June.  Tine  sj)eci- 
mens  gathered  at  even  this  date  were  in  full  bloom , 
excepting  a  few  indicated  in  the  following  list  by  i)aren- 
theses,  and  the  sedges  and  grasses,  which  were  well 
developed. 


Anemone  parvillora, 
Aquilegia  formosa, 
Aconitum  Napellus,  var. 
Barbarea  vulgaris, 
Arabis  petruea, 
(Jardanune  liirsuta,  var., 
Viola  cucuUata, 
Lui)inus  Arcticus, 
Rubus  Chauuemorus, 
(Poterium  Sitchense  ?), 


Ai'ctostaphylos  Uva-ursi, 
Bryanthus  empetriformis, 
Knlmia  glauca, 
Ledum  latifoliiim, 
(Moneses  iinifloni), 
Pyrohi  secnndn, 
Dodecatlieou  Meiiditi,  var., 
Polemoniuni  liuniile, 
Mertensia  paniculata. 
Polygonuuj  vivipnrum, 


S48 


APPENDIX. 


Saxifraga  triciispidata,  (Betula  glandulosa), 

Saxifraga  leucanthemifolia,  (Alniis  viridis), 


Parnassia  Umbriata, 
Ribes  rubrum, 
Epilobium  spicatum, 
Epilobiuni  latifolium, 
(Heracleum  lanatum), 
Cornus  Canadensis, 
Antennaria  alpina, 
Arnica  latifolia, 
(Senecio  triangularis), 


Salix  glauca, 
Salix  Sitchensis, 
Habenariu  dilutata, 
Streptopus  roseus, 
Carex  (2  sp.), 
Deyeuxia  Langsdorffii, 
Festuca  ovina, 
Lycopodiiim  roniplanatum, 
Lycojm  urn  aiinotinum. 


Vaccinium  i)arvifolium, 

The  rest  of  the  collection  was  made  as  opportunity 
offered,  during  the  descent  to  Fort  Selkirk,  in  latitude 
62°  45',  which  point  was  reached  on  the  13th  of  July.   It 
included  the  following  species  : — 
Anemone  multifida,  Galium  boreale. 

Ranunculi]''  Flammula,  var.,  Aster  Sibiricus, 
Eryslmitm  parmjiorum^       Achillea  millefolium, 


Cerastium  arvense, 
Aienaria  laterflora, 
Arenaria  physodes, 
Montia  fontana, 
Linum  perenne, 
Hedysarum  boreale, 
Rubus  arcticus, 
Fragaria  vesca  (?), 
Potentilla  fruticcsa, 
AmelancJiler  alnifoUa^ 
Parnassia  i^alustris, 
Bupluerum  ranunculoides, 
Hordeum  jubatum. 

The  species  new  to  so  northern  a  latitude  are  marked 
by  italics.  The  season  appears  to  have  been  as  forward 
as  I  found  it  in  1808  in  the  lower  mountain  ranges 
rising  from  the  plateau  of  western  Nevada  in  lati- 
tude 40°.  SERENO  WATSON. 


Artemisia  vulgaris, 
Arnica  alpina, 
Arnica  Chamissonis, 
Pyrola  rotundifolia,  var., 
Primula  Sibirica, 
Myosotis  sylvatica,  var.. 
Pen  tsenioit  con/ertus, 
Pentsemon  r/Imicus  (?), 
Pedicularis  flanmiea, 
Chenopodium  album, 
Polygonum  aviculare, 
Zygadenus  elegans. 


APPENDIX  NO.  2. 


COMPARISON    OF    THE    MOST    IMPOIITANT  RIVEllS   OF  THE 

V/OKLI). 

<Prepared  for  "  Along  Alaska's  Great  River  "  by  William  Libbey,  Jr.,  Professor  of  Physi- 
cal  Geoi^raphy  in  Princeton  College,  N.  J  ) 


Bivcr. 


Length  in! 

iiiiles.      I 


Nile 

Amazon .... 

Obi 

YeneBei 

MissiHsippi. . 
Yang-tHo-kiang 

Anioor 

MisBouri 

Lena 

Congo 

Niger . . 

Mekong 

St.  Lawrence. 

Hoanglio    

La  Plata 

Madeira 

Yukon 

Mack' iizie .... 
Brahmapootra 
Indii  i 


3834 
3750 
3400 
3330 
3184 
3088 
3U66 
2900 
2780 
2609 
2585 
2500* 
2384 
2305 
2300* 
2200* 
2044 
2000* 
2000* 
1850 


Their  order  in  the 


WorldlW.  Hemis.  N.Anier.  U.    H. 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

G 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 


Length  in  Draiuugc 
navigable      area,  Kq. 
miles.        j     niilfS. 


5 
6 
7 

8 


4 

5 


3^ 


3023 


2354 


2400 


23(10 


i750 


1,425,000 

2,275.000 

1,420,000 

1,18(),(MI0 

1,244,000 

950,1)00 

780,000 

518,000 

1.000.(100 

i.im.ooo 
1,02:1,000 

400.000 
40((,0(K) 
714,000 
1.242,000 
345,000 
2(<0,«t00 
5!)0,000 
450,000 
373,000 


*  llatimated,  bnt  closely  known. 

t  Estimatinj;  whole  length  2,044  miles.  Taking  only  the  amount  in  the  United 
States  (l,-260  "miles,  all  of  which  is  navigable),  it  is  the  tit'th  river  therein,  the 
Mississippi,  Missouri,  Arkansas  and  Ohio  rivers  being  hmger. 

Autlionties  consulted  :  Bates,  f'havanne,  Guyot.  Haydeii  and  Selwyn,  Humph- 
reys t.nd  Abbott,  K<'ane,  Kloediii,  Peternian,  Royal  Geographical  Society  of 
England  (proceedings),  Stanley,  Wallace. 


APPENDIX  NO. 


3- 


9.0 

ii.a 

0.6 
12.1 

3.7 


ITINERARY    OF  TUE  ROUTE    FROM    THE    HAINES    MISSION 

IN    THE  CHILKOOT  INLET  TO  FORT  YUKON. 

Statute  Miles^ 

Haines  Mission  to  the  mouth  of  the  I)ayay  Kiver      16.1 
Head  of  canoe  navigation  on  "  '' 

Mouth  of  the  Nourse  Eiver  (west)    . 
The    Perrier    Pass    in    the    Kotusk    Mountains 

(4,1(K)  ft.) 

Tlie  Crater  Lake  (head  of  the  Yukon  River)     . 
Camp  on  Lake  Lindeman 

(Length  of  Lake  Lindeman,  10. 1) 

Cape  Koldewey 

North  end  of  Lake  Lindeman    .        .        .        .  j5.  8 

South  end  of  Lake  Bennett  over  the  Payer  Portage    1.2 
Prejevalsky  Point  (  mouth  of  Wheaton  River,  west)  18.1 

Richard's  Rock  (east) 1.2 

North  end  of  Bennett  Lake  (Watson  Valley,  west)     10.0 

(Length  of  Lake  Bennett,  29.8) 
West  end  of  Lake  Nares  (through  Caribou  Crossing) 
East        "        "        "      (or  length  of  tlie  lake)      . 
Perthes  Point  (or  length  of  Lake  Bove)    . 

Mouth  of  Tahko  River 

North  end  of  Lake  Tahko   .... 

(Length  of  Lake  Tahko,  18.1) 
South  end  of  Lake  Marsh  (or  length  of  connecting 

river) 

North  end  of  Lake  Marsh  (or  length  of  that  lake) 
Upper  end  of  the  Grand  Canon  of  the  Yukon 

(Length  of  the  Grand  Canon  and  Rai)ids,  4.  (3) 
Mouthof  the  Tahk-heen'-a   west)        .        .        .        23.1 
North  end  of  Lake  Kluk-tas' si       ....     17.8 
Richthofen  Rocks  (and  river)       .        ,        .        .        14.4 


1.7 
3.2 

8.8 

7.8 

10.3 


9.1 

28.8 
50. » 


> 


r 


mmmm 


r 


APPENDIX. 

North  end  of  Lake  Kluktassi 

(Length  "  "  36.5) 

Maunoir  Butte  (east)    .        .        ,        . 

Red  Butte  (west) 

Grizzly  Bear  Bluffs  (west)    . 

Mouth  of  the  Newberry  River  (east) 


(( 


351 

22.1 

16.2 
3.2 
9.4 
8.9 
38.0 
41.0 
10.7 
30. 1 
2.").  4 
25.8 
17.0 
21.3 


B'Abbadie    "       (east) 
Daly  "       (east)     . 

Parkman  Peak  (east) 

Nordenskiold  River  (west)      .... 

Rink  Rapids 

Hoot-che-koo  Bluff  (east)        .... 

Von  Wilczek  Valley  (east) 

Fort  Selkirk  (west)  (through  Ingersoll  Islands) 

(Total  length  of  river  explored,  486.8). 
(All  of  the  above  are  in  the  1st  Part  of  the  Map,  Page  55). 
Mouth  of  the  Selwyn  River  (south)   . 

"        "       White      "  "  ... 

"        "       Stewart    "      (east)       . 
"        "      Deer         "      (east) 

Fort  Reliance 

Mouth  of  the  Chandindu  River     .... 
"      Cone  Hill        "    (west) 

Roquette  Rock  (east) 

Klat-ol-klin  (Johnny's)  Village  (west) 

Belle  Isle  Station 

Boundary  line  between  Alaska  and  British  America 

(141°  W 

(Total  length  of  Yukon   River  in  British 

North- West  Territory,  783.5). 
(Total  length  of  Yukon  River  in  Alaska,  12fio). 
Mouth  of  Totondu  ..... 

Tahkandik  

Charley's  Village  (west) 

St.  Michael's  Bar  or  Island        .... 

Fort  Yukon 

(See  Part  2d  Map  for  above). 

(Total  length  explored  and  surveyed) 


33.0 
62.1 

0.7 
05.0 

6.5 
12.0 
27.5 
13.0 
33.0 

1.1 

20.3 


10.0 
22.4 
20.0 
47.4 
97.0 

077.0 


262 


APPENDIX. 


Chetaiit  River  (north) 196.0 

Rapidsin  the  Ramparts  (Senati's  V^illage)  .  59.0 

Mouth  of  Tanana  River,  south,  (Old  Nuklakayet)  28.0 

Nuklakayet  (north) 18.0 

(Total  length  of  raft  journey  on   Yukon 
River,  1803.2). 

Newicargut  (south) 70.0 

Melozecargut  (north) 38.0 

Yukoeargut  (south) 22.0 

Sakadelontin  (north) 10.0 

Koyukuk  River  (north) 37.0 

Nulato  (north) 22.0 

Kaltag  (north) 37.0 

Hall'«  Rapids 100.0 

Anvik(west) 22.0 

Makagamute  (west) 14.0 

Ikogmute  Mission  (north)           .        .        .        .  77.0 

Andreavsky  (north)        .        .                 ,        .        .  100.0 

Aphoon  Village  (north)      .        .                 .        .  105.0 

Coatlik 7.0 

Aphoon  mouth  of  Yukon  River  5.0 

(Total  length  of  Yukon  River  from  Aphoon 
mouth  to  Crater  Lake,  2043.5). 
All  the  above  are  in  Part  3d  of  the  Map,  in  pocket 
of  book. 

DISTANCES  ON   THE  COAST  (fKOM   RAYMOND). 

Mouth  of  Aphoon  Outlet    o  Pikmiktalik  .      46.0 

Pikmiktalik  to  anchorage  off  Redoubt  St.  Michael' s    27.0 
Distance  from    Redoubt  St.   Michael's  to    Fort 

Yukon 1039.0 


(  ) 


r\ 


\ 


INDEX. 


h 


Agriculture.  57. 

Ainsworth,  J,  C,  29. 

Alaska  Commercial  Company,  243, 
265,  268,  274,  277,  278,  281, 
284,  806,  317,  321,  323,  3:«, 
339,  343. 

"Alaska"  (ship),  338,  339,  341. 

Aleutian  Islands,  343. 

Alexander  Archipelago,  31 

"Alexy"  (half-breed  Russian  in- 
terpreter), 274. 

Amazon  (Kiver),  143,  349. 

Amoor  River,  118,  !549. 

Andreavsky,  322,  333,  335,  341, 
352. 

Anvik  (or  Anvic),  278,  314,  327, 
328,  330,  332,  352, 

Anvik  Indians,  327,  328,  329. 

Anvik  River,  327,  330,  331. 

Aphoon  Mouth  (of  Yukon  River), 
163,  169,  177,  279,  336,  337, 
352. 

Arctic  Preferences)  14,  75,  S?,  91, 
142,  143,  180,  211,  233,  273, 
281,  286,  291,  293,  309,  313, 
314,  338. 

Army,  The,  10. 

Arrows  (see  bows  also),  231,  232, 

Astoria  (Oregon),  11. 

Avalanches,  17,  22. 

Ayan  (or  I-yan)  Indians,  215, 
216,  217,  220,  221,  22l\,  224, 
225,  226,  227,  228,  230,  231, 
232,  233,  234,  237,  243,  244, 
247,  249. 

Ayan  River  (see  Pelly  also),  227. 


B 


**  Barka,  The  "  (or  trading  schoon- 
er), 277,  278,  309,  313,  315,  325, 
333. 


Barnard,  Lieut.  R.  N.,  321. 

"Barrabor}i.s,"  2!M. 

Barrow,  Point,  33S. 

Bates,    Mr.    (exploring   Tanana\ 

302. 
Baths  and  bathing,  125,  341. 
Bears,  24,  25,  34,  67,  91,  2l'().  251. 
Bears,  black,  21   25,  41,  ()2,  (i8, 

88,  99,  109,  130,   186,  200,  235, 

238,  239,  248. 
Bears,   brown,   (or  "grizzly"  or 

"barren-ground"),  25,  41,  99, 

173,  174,  186,  248. 
Bella  Bella,  (Indian  village),  18. 
Belle  Isle  (trading  station),   259, 

260.  269,  301,  302.  333,  351. 
Bennett,  Lake,  100,  101,  103,  107, 

108,  109,  111,  3.-J0. 
Bering's  Sea,  118,  241,  277,  336, 

337,  343. 
Bering's  Straits,  117.  323. 
Berries,  41,  54,  130,  173,  235. 
Birch,  (trees  or  timber),  72. 
Boca  de  Quadra  Inlet,  IS,  23. 
Boundary  Butte,  260,  2;U. 
Boundary,  The,  245. 
Bove,    Lake,  114,  115,   116,   223, 

350. 
Bows  and  arrows,  129,  231. 
British  Columbia.   12,  13.  14,  23, 

26,  117. 
British     North  -  West    Territory, 

frontispiece,  25,  226,  260,  281, 

351. 
British,  The,  306. 
Byrnes,  Mr..  117, 118. 


Cable,  The  Atlantic,  117,  118. 
Canadian  PacKic  Railway,  15,  22. 
Caudle-lish,  (sec  8melt). 
Canneries,  Salmon,  (see   Salmon 
canneries). 


I 


854 


INDEX. 


Canoes.  14,  21,  22,  24,  43,  48,  52, 

53,  r>7,  58,  55),  (52,  63,  64,  67,  69, 
70,  \))i,  97,  100,  106,  113,  116, 
117,  118,  US),  151,  156,  157, 162, 
178, 181,  188,  200,  220,  221,  223, 
224,  225,  228,  229,  232,  237, 238, 
241,  242,  243,  246,  251,  256,  257, 
259,  202,  285,  290,  299. 

Canon,  Grand,  (see  Grand  Canon). 

Caribou  (woodland  reindeer),  91, 
99,  109, 127,  130,  156,  188,  200, 
220,  228,  244,  247. 

Caribou  Crossing,  109,  113,  350. 

Cattle,  18,  127,  266,  267. 

Cassiar  Mines,  27. 

Cave  Kock,  251. 

Cedar  (trees  or  timber),  23,  24,  57, 
58. 

Charcoal,  56. 

Charley's  (Indian)  Village,  262, 
264,  351. 

Chatham  Point,  16. 

Chatham  Soun(l,  22. 

Chatliam  Straits.  34,  35. 

Chetaut  River.  291,  3.')2. 

Cheyenne  Indians,  51. 

Cliilkat,  Alaska,  12,  36,  46,  59, 
335. 

Chilkat  Indians,  36,  37,  38,  39,  40, 
41,  42,  43,  44,  45.  46,  47,  48, 
49,  50,  51,  53,  54,  59,  60.  61,  63, 
68,  103,  113,  114,  128,  158,  176, 
177,  189,  208,  219,  227,  23S, 
259,  269,  292. 

Chilkat  Inlet,  14,  35,  43,  49,  53, 
57.  104,  208,  278.. 

Chilkat  River,  36,  60. 

Chilkoot  Indians,  49,  51,  54,  57. 
59,  60. 

Chilkoot  Inlet,  35,  54,  57,  89, 
347. 

Chilkoot  Trail,  60,  62,  70,  177, 
179. 

Clans,  Indian,  37,  41. 

Claystones,  121. 

Climate,  57,  208. 

Coatlik  (Eskimo  village),  336,  337, 
352. 

Codtisli,  34,  47. 

Columbia  (River),  11,  36,  224, 
249. 

Colville  River,  281. 

Gone  Hill  River,  248,  351. 


Congo  (River),  143,  349. 

Congress,  10,  11. 

Copper,  41. 

Corwin  (revenue  cutter),  327,  328, 

338,  343. 
Crater  Lake,  frontispiece,   87,  88, 

208,  278,  350.  352. 
Cremation    (Indian),   37,   38,  45, 

46. 
Cross  Sound,  13,  35. 
Curlew,  88. 
"Cut-off"  channels,  143. 


D'Abbadie  River,  189,  190,  351. 
Daly  River,  190,  192,  351. 
Dayay  Inlet,  57,  79,  89. 
Dayay  River  (and  valley),   57,  58, 

59,  63,  65,  67,  68,  69,  72,  73,  75, 

77,  79,  89  350. 
Delta  of        ■    Yukon,  289,    326, 

335,  :536,  342. 
Deer,  34. 
Deer  Creek  or  River,  243,   244, 

351. 
"Devil-sticks,"  54. 
Dickenson  "Billy,"  103,  104,  107, 

178,  259. 
Disc'^vory  Passage,  15,  16. 
Diseases,  contagious,  292. 
Dixon  Entrance,  13,  23. 
Dogs,  25,  46,   48,    173,  228,  230, 

251,  252.  255,  285,  326. 
Dogs,    Indian,   25,    69,    83,    12S, 

220,  256,  294,  30(5. 
Dogs,  Eskimo,  223,  256,  313,  314, 

317. 
Dora  (steamer),  343. 
Ducks,  91,  98,  158,  269. 


Eagle's   Nest   (of    the    Chilkats) 

I'eak,  192. 
Edgecumbe,  Mount,  18,  28. 
Eel-pouts,  223. 
English,  The,  105. 
Eskimo,   The,   48,   76,    100,    129, 

158,   223,  234,    243,   262,    276, 

277,   291,   314,   331,  334,    339^ 

340,  .341. 
Eureka  (steamer),  31. 


fi. 


INDEX. 


866 


Ferns,  32. 
FicldPeak,  11(5. 
Finj^al's  Cave,  165. 
Fiulayson  Pa.ssage,  21. 
Fir  (trees  or  timber),  13,  14. 
Fisheries  (see  Salmon,  Cod,  Hali- 
but, etc.) 
Fish  oil.  48. 
Fish-weirs,   traps,   nets,  etc..   48, 

♦IS,  128.  120,  256,  257,  258,  259, 

21)1,  :'.()(),  3(16,  315. 
Fish-spiuirs,  75,  7(». 
Fit/hugh>ioun(l,  18. 
"Flatlands"  of  the  Yukon,  264, 

269,  271,   273,   276,   279,    280, 

293,  294,  300,  324. 
Fiatterjj,  Cape,  14. 
F'lorida  Blanca,  18. 
Flounders,  47. 
Flowers,  14,  .^.1,  110. 
Fly,  large  "hor.se,"  125. 
Fogs  (or  mists),  21,  22,  26,  47,  54, 

73,  75,  77,  79,  84,  239,  247. 
Fords  (river),  68,  69,  70. 
Forests,  17,  235,  242. 

"      fires,    168,    185,  186,  187, 

189. 
Foxes  (skins,  etc.,)  50,  231. 
Fredericksen,   Mr.,  338,   329,  330, 

331. 
Furs,  49,  59,  60,  231,  284,  283. 


Gah>s  (see  Storms). 
Ganil)ling,  Indian,  70,  71,  227. 
Gardens,  54,  307,  309. 
Geese,  290,  331. 
General  of  the  Array,  10. 
Glaciers,  14,   21,  22,    27,   32,   34, 

54,  58,  59,    08,    72,    81,   84,  90, 

103,  121,  239,  240,  29T. 
Glacier,  Baird,  73,  75. 
Glacier,  Saussure,  77,  79. 
Glo.ster,  Serg't.  Chas.   A.,  9,  127, 

2it9. 
Gnats,  54,  120,  125,  223,  225,  234, 

27^,  293. 
Goats,   mountain,   34,  81,  82,  83, 

88,  109,  127,  186,  229,  235. 
Gold,  27,  41,    179,  180,   190,  203, 

212,  215,  317. 


Golovnin  Bay,  338,  339,  340,  341. 
Grand  Canon  of  the  Yukon,  154, 

161,    162,    163,    165,    1««.    167, 

170,  171,  195,  200,  223.  350. 
Gra8.se.s,  14,  17,  .54,   126,  266,  331, 

344. 
Grasshoppers.  110. 
Grayling,  160,  161,   1^2.  168,  169, 

170,  177,  184,  223. 
(ireenland,  12. 
Grenville,  Channel,  22, 
Grouse,  63,  91,  110,  111. 
(riilf  of  Georgia,  15. 
Gulls,  91,  195.. 


H 


Haeckel  Hill,  190. 

Haines  Mission  (see  Mission). 

Halibut,  47. 

Hall's  Kapids,  326,  352. 

Hancock  Hills,  183,  184,  190. 

Hares,  191,  192. 

Harper,  Mr.,  .306,  313. 

Harper's  FerT  y,  224. 

Hemlock,  WZ. 

Homan,  Mr.   Clias.  A.,  9,  55,  68, 

96,  99,   150,    20,3,  220,  22r),  231, 

245,    273,    278,  287,  300,    309, 

316. 
Huckleberries,  318. 
Hudson's  Bay,   61,  129,  277,  313, 

314,  .339. 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  61,  117, 

129,    207,    208,    211,   212,    231, 

239,  240,  259,  279.  281. 
Hudson's  River,  16,  224. 


I 


Ice  (see  also  Glaciers),  44,  80,  81, 
84,  88,  1U8.  114.  136,  137,  191, 
247,  328,  338,  342. 

Icebergs,  14. 

Icy  Straits.  35. 

Ikogmiito  (mission),  328,  333,  3.52. 

Indians,  9.  18,24,  25.49,  58,61, 
62,  r.r,  ^)>^,  69,  7(1.  71,  75.  80, 
81,  82,  84,  87,  92,  95,  97,  98, 
110,  112,  114,  115,  12.3.  129, 
138, 173,  234,  244,  245,  260,  268, 
277,  329. 

Indian  caches,  291. 


L 


856 


INDEX. 


^ 


Indian  carvings  and  engravings,  Klat-ol'-klin,  (Indian  village),  283, 

27,  36,  41,  42,  43,  44.  i  255,    258,   25J),    'Z&i,   264,   301, 

Indian  curiosities,  27,  127.  |  351. 

Indian  funerals  and  graires,  87,  46,  ;  Kluk-ta.s'-si,  Lake,   17H.  181,   183, 


215,    317,    219,    284,    288,    291, 

293,  ;{05,  818. 
Indianno  (Cliilkat    Indian),   104, 

177,  200,  203,  249,  259. 
Indian  packera,  37,  38,  48,  53,  81, 

87,  88.  !)5.  100. 
Indian  villiigrs,  18,   36,   179.  180, 

197,    199,   228,    229,    240,    251, 

285,    298,   305,   315,   318,    322, 

324. 
Indian  women,  39,  40.  42,  231. 
Ingersoll  Islands,  201,  203,  351. 
"  Inland  Passage  "  (to  Alaska),  12, 

15,  1"^,  18,  21,  26,  31,  35,  57,  90, 

103. 
Inno!^a  River,  326. 
Interpi-eters,  103,    104,  105,   245, 

258. 
Iron  Capped  Mountains,  101,  103, 

297. 


Jacobsen,  Captain,  343. 

Japanese,  The,  31. 

Japanese  Current,  21,  47,  344. 

Japanese  Island,  31. 

Johnny's    Village    (see    Klat-ol- 

Klin). 
Johnstone  Strait,  16,  17. 
Juan  de  Fuca  Strait,  11,  13,  14. 
Juniper,  84. 
Junk  Niphon,  31. 


Kah-tung   (Indian    village),  228, 

229,  234,  237,  238. 
Kiaganee  Strait,  23. 
Kaigan  Village,  33. 
Kaltag,  324,  352. 
Kelp,  17. 

Kerchinikoflf.  321   322,  323. 
Kiaks,  243,  314. 
Killisnoo,  34. 
King  William  Land,  313. 
Kit'l-ah'-gon  (Indian  village)  197, 

199,  200,  227. 


184,  196,  350,  351. 
Kluk-wan  (Indian  village,)  36,  60. 
Koldewey,  Cape.  93,  350. 
Kon-ifl  Ayan  (^hiof;,  230. 
Kootznahoo  Indijins,  35. 
Kotusk  Mountains,  83,    91,  208, 

350. 
Koyukuk  Indians.  321. 
Koyukul:  River,  '.V>\.  .3i)2. 
Koyukuk  Sopka.  '.Vi\. 
Krause,  Drs.   Aurel  and  Arthur, 

90. 
KuroSiwo  (see  Japanese  Current). 
Kut-lah-cook'-ah       (see     Nourse 

River). 


Labarge,  Lake,  178. 

La  Creole,  18. 

Laduo  "Jo.,"  262,  266,  269,  271, 

274. 
Lama  Passage,  18. 
Liuinch,  steam,  "  Louise,"  53,  57, 

58,  59. 
Leavitt,  Mr.  (signal  observer),  339. 
"  Leo  "  (schooner),  328,  338,339, 

340,  .341,  342,  .343,  345. 
Lewis  River,  207,  208,  212. 
I  Libbey,  Prof.  Wm..  Jr.,  349. 
j  Lichens  (see  Moss). 
Limestones,  115,  182.  251 
Lindeman,  Lake,   90,   92,   93,  97, 

100,    113,   125,    126,    149,   204, 

297,  347,  350. 
LoringBluif,  193,  203. 
Lower  Ramparts   of  the    Yukon 

(see  Ramj)arts). 
Lynn  Channel  or  Canal,  12,  35. 


M 


Mackenzie  River,  281,  349. 
Makagamute  (Eskimo  village),  331, 

352. 
Maps,  55,  62,  118,  188,    196,   204, 

211,  245,  249,  279,  281,  299,  300, 

302. 
Marmots,  112,  113. 


LiU 


INDEX. 


357 


■K- 


Miirsh,  Lake,   121,   122,  124,  125, 

I2«,    J  27,    128,    130,    131,  164, 

IHI,  350. 
Mastodons.  287. 
Miithowa,  Miss,  54. 
Miiunoir  Butte,  ISM),  350. 
Mayo,  Mr.,  306,  316. 
MoClintock  Kivor,  130. 
Mcintosh,  J.  B.,  Mr.,  0,  96. 
McQuestion  John,    Mr.,   245,  246, 

277,  281,  282,  283.  284,  306. 
Medioine-men,  Indian,  37,  45,  46, 

54,  225,  238,  245,  240. 
Medioino-nien,  Eskimo,  340. 
Molozecargut  (river),  316,  317.352. 
Micliaelovski  (see  Ht.  Michael's). 
Michie  Mountain,  13(». 
Milbank  Sound,  21. 
Military,  The,  9,  10.  52.  329. 
Mission,  Haines',  54,  59,  188,  204, 

350. 
Missions,  Presbyterian  Board  of, 

54. 
Mississippi  River,    11,    144,   336, 

349. 
Missouri  River,  144,  349. 
Mists  (see  Fogs). 
Monte  San  Jacinto,  18. 
Mooje,  109,    127,    130,    156,    186, 

18S,    199,    200,    220,    228,    231, 

232,    243,  247,   261,     264,  265, 

276,  301. 
Moose-noses,  265. 
Moose-Skin  Mbuntain,  243,244. 
Mosses  and  lichens,  17,  32,  33,  191, 

267,  297,  309. 
Moscjuitoes,   54,   57,    97,  99.    107. 

120,  123,  125,  127,  130,  143,  155. 

156,  158,  165, 16S,  171,  172, 173, 

174,  183,  188,  189,  199,  225,  2:54, 

247,  263,  272,  273,  286,  293,  316, 

332. 
^oths  or  millers,  169. 
Muskrats,  155,  158. 


N 


Na  chon'-dees  (Indians),  228. 
Nares,  Lake,  110,  113,   183,  223, 

350. 
Neah  Bay,  14. 
Nebraska,  121. 


Neumann  Mr.  (Sup't  Oonalaska). 

343. 
Neumann,  Mr.  (Sup't  St.  Michael's) 

339,  341. 
New  Archangel  (Sitka),  28. 
Newberry  River,  190,  351. 
Newicargut  (or  Frog  River),  316, 

352. 
"New  Rackett,"  (river  steamer), 

317.  318. 
Nile  (River),  14:5,  WV.). 
Noo-klak-6  (Indian  village),  246, 

247. 
Nordienskiold  River,  190,  192,  199, 

351. 
Northern  Trading  Compai'V,  268, 

)im,  305. 
Northwest  Trading  Company,  53, 

104.  208. 
Norton  Sound,  338,  340. 
Norway,  i2. 

Nonrse  Riv(>r,  72,  73,  75,  79,  350. 
Nuklakayet,  266.   268,  277,   278, 

289,    305,    306.   307,    312,    313, 

316,  317.  319,  3:55.  3.')2. 
Nulato,  277,  21  i\  321,  322.    323. 

324.  352. 


0 


01yrai)ia,    Wasl.ington    Territory. 

12. 
Olympian  Mountains,  13. 
Ommaney,  Cape,  2S,  34. 
Onions,  wild,  1 10. 
Oomims,  314,  32*;,  328. 
Oonalaska,  342.  343.  344. 
Otter  Tail    (of    the    Tahk-heesh) 

Peak,  192. 


Pacific  Coast,  15,  26,  28,  35,  47. 
Pacific  Ocean,   11.   13,  21,  28,34, 

35,  1 1 5,  239.  344. 
Parhelia.  286. 
Parkas,  323. 

Parkman  Peak,  192,  351. 
Pastolik  River.  337. 
Payer  Porta^'c^  and  Rapids,  98,  99, 

101,  149.  350. 
Pelly  River.  61.  104.  180.  203.  205, 

207,  209,  212.  215,  227,  234. 


'"^fVl 


*358 


INjJEX. 


Peril  Straits,  31,  34, 

Perrier  Pass,  S4,  85,  89,  188,  347, 

350. 
Perthes  Point,  115,  116,  223,  350. 
Petei-sen,  Captain.  277,  279,  332, 

333,  340. 
Petersen".-  Point,  332. 
Petroff,  Ivuii  (Special  Agent  Tenih 

Census),  11,  302. 
Pine  (trees  or  timber)  44,  58,  95, 

125,    12!'.,    155,    170,   172,    173, 

177,  18S. 
Poplar   (trees  or   timber),  67.  70, 

92,  llio,  189,  191,  241. 
Porcupine  (ov  Rat)   River,    280, 

294. 
Porcupines,  293. 
I'ortland  Inlet,  23. 
Portland,  Oregon,  10,  11. 
Port  Townsend,   Washington  Ter- 
ritory, 15. 
Potoma'  River,  224. 
Prairies,  i3,  97,  126, 
President,  The,  10,  329. 
Pr(!jevalsky  i'oint,  107,  35(^ 
Priest,    The  Greek,  of   Ikognuite, 

328,  333. 
Puget  Sound,  12,  15. 
Punta   Oeste  de  la  Entrada  del 

I'raicipp,  28. 
Putnam  River,  180 
Pyramid  Harbor,  36,  43,  150,  278. 


(jueen  Charlotte  Islands,  18 

(^ue(  n  Charlotte  Sound,  13,  15,  lii, 

t^,    1  ). 


Kaft,  the,  23.  61,  (52,  91.  95,  96, 
97.  98,  99,  100,  103,  105,  106, 
107,  108,  110,  116.  H7,  122.  124, 
126,  130,  131,  132,  133,  136, 137, 
139,  140,  144,  145,  147,  148,  149, 
150,  151,  152,  154,  155,  156,  157, 
1!!9,  160, 161,  162,  165,  166,  167, 
168.  172,  178,  185,  192,  195.  199, 
200,  22\>,  235.  236.  238,  241,  242, 
246,  248,  262.  270,  272,  275,  277, 
291,  30.».  312,  315. 


Rain,   21,  47,  63,  105,  123,  130, 

156,  158,  184,  234,  237,  239,  242, 

247,  251,  260.  261,  287. 
Ramparts,     TiOwer     (of     Yukon 

River),  258,  274,  280,  288,  289, 

290,  293.    29.';.    298,    299,   306, 

352. 
Ramparts,   Uj)i)er,    207,  215,  234, 

239.  245,  247,  260,  265,  274,  293, 

299. 
Rapids,  60,  Z2,  J)8.  154,  159,  160, 

162,  165.  167,  168,  169,  176,  177. 

185,  192,  223,  240,  289,  295,  298, 

350,  352. 
Ritt  River  (see  Porcupine  River). 
Rat/.el  Riing(>,  or  Peaks,  270. 
Ray,   P.   H;,  Lieut.   IT.  S.  A,,  180, 

338,  342. 
Ravmond,   Cajit..  U.   S.  A.,   151, 

156,  157,  180,  279.  298,  ,300,  352. 
Red  River  (of  Indians),  see  Richt- 

hofeu  River. 
Reindeer,  291,  329,  345. 
RcMiideer,  spotted,  of  Asia,  323. 
Reindeer,  woodliTid,  see  Caribou. 
Reliance,  Fort,  244,  245,  246,  249, 

351. 
liichards'  Rock,  108.  350. 
liichthofeii  Red  Rocks  and  River, 

182,  350. 
Rink  Rajids,   175,  191,   195,  199, 

351. 
Rockwell,  Capt.  Cleveland,  29. 
rtocky  Mountains,  207.  ' 

Roinantzott"  Mountains.  273. 
iionsuitzoff  Point.  337. 
Itosebuds,  272,  29.3. 
Roth,  Priv.  John,  U.  S.  A.,  '.».  294, 

:{31. 
Roquette  Rock,  249,  250.  351. 
Russia,  2(j,  33.3. 
Russian  American  Fur  Company, 

.321,  322. 
Riissifins,  The,  28,  31,  47.  105,  246. 

265,  279,  280,  281,  309,  321,  322, 

340,  341. 


f 


Sakadelontin  (Indian  village),  318» 

352. 
Salisbury  Strait,  34. 


e»uiMniiu«fi«..i^iJt; 


iiflHili 


INDEX. 


35i» 


Salmon,  22,  24.  3(5,  44,  47.  48,  49, 
67.  ri),  111,  Hi),  120,  i:{0,  17a, 
200,  223,  228,  22'^,  255,  25(5,  257, 
258,  25i),  261,  265,  21)1,  300,  305, 
306,  313,  315,  316,  331. 
Salmon  canneries,  11,  23,  36,  46, 
47,  4! ,  53,  208. 

Saluting  (Indians),  246. 
Sand  Kivor,  see  AVhite  Kiver. 

San  Francisco,  268,  317,  338,  342, 
343. 

Saranac  (U.  S.  man-of-war),  10. 

Schoffelin  Brothers  (prospecting 
Yukon).  317. 

Scientific  matters,  9,  90,  151,  204, 
208,  211,  227,347. 

Seaforth  Ci)annel,  18. 

Sea -otters,  26. 

Secretary  of  War,  Tlie,  10. 

Sediment,  (river,  lake,  et^),  59, 
121,122,  125.  181.  336,     li. 

Seduction,  Point.. 57. 

Selkirk.  Fort,  (il,  104,  .  .5,  117, 
lis,  12.5,  175,  178,  180,  196,200, 
203,  20.1,  205,  207,  208,  211,  212, 
21,3,  2  u;,  217,223,224,  231,234, 
235,  240,  247,  278,  348,  351. 

Selwyn  River,  235,  351. 

Senienow  Mouiitains,  190. 

Senati  (Indian  Chief),  2S0. 

Senati's  Village,  289,  299,  352. 

Seymour  Narrows,  15. 

Shagclook  Indians,  328.  329. 

Sliajjelook  Slough,  326. 

Shamans,  see  Medicine-men. 

ShirclitT.  Corp'l,  V.  S.  A.,  9,  96, 
293,  294. 

Slioi-ricli  (Cliilkat  Chief),  38,  60. 

Silver.  36.  41.  179.  33S. 

Sioux  Indians.  51,  219. 

Sitka,  18,  2S.  29.  31.  40,  322. 

Skecma  lidet.  22. 

Slaves  (Indian),  and  slavery,  38, 
.39,  40. 

Sledges.  220,  259.  318. 

Smelt  (flsh),  17. 

Smokes,  signal.  114,  115.  120,  168. 

Snags,  144. 

Snow,  13,  14,  21,  44.  45,  .54,  .58. 
59,  81,  82.  83.  S4,  87.  88,  172, 
188.  192,  234.  239,  266. 

Snow-shoes,  S7,  259. 

Soil,  57.  2(i6,  297,  309. 


Sooncargut.  (river),  316. 

Spanisli  explorers  of  Alaska,  17, 
18,  28. 

Spruce  (trees  or  timber),  14,  32.  40, 
44,  58.  63,  75,  84,  95,  114,  125, 
138,  155,  159,  165,  168,  171,  172, 
177,  ISO,  188,  219,  228,  229,  234, 
241,  242,  252,  270,  287. 

Spuhn,  Mr.  Carl,  53,  54. 

St.  Elias,  Mount,  23,  35. 

Stewart  River,  207,  227,  228,  241, 
249,  351. 

Stickeen  River,  27,  28. 

'"Stick"  Indians,  .see  Tahk-heesh. 

St.  Michael's  Pedoubt,  124,  245, 
265,  278.  322,  :!27.  .328,  330,  332, 
,333,  ,335,  336,  337,  339,  .340,  .342, 
343,  352. 

"St.  Michael's "  (river  steamer), 
268,  269.  278,  3:52.  3.33,  ,3.35 

"Stone  Houses,"  The,  SI. 

Stoney,  Lieut  ,  I'.  S.  X.,  180. 

Storms  (and  gales),  17,  21,  2^,  89, 
90,  9.5,  97,  105,  116,  123,  143, 
286,*2S7,  297.  31.5.  316,  318,  323, 
324,  325,  326,  332,  :?,37,  342. 

St.  Paul  (ocean  steamer),  343. 

Saraner  Strait,  2^. 

"  .-^undogs,"  see  Parlielia. 

Swallows,  ss. 

"  Sweepers,"  134,  142. 


Tadoosh  (Indians   and    villages), 

262. 
Tah-hecn'-a  (river),  189. 
Tahk-heen'-a,  or  Tahk  River,  177, 

189,  190,  350. 
Tu.ik-lieesh' (Stick)  Indians,  59,  61, 

(12.  63,  S3.  91,  92,  100.  104.  10.5, 

109,  11.3,  111.  116.  US.  Hit,  120, 

127,  12!»,  15(;,  1.57,  1511.  161,  162, 

170.  175,  1S9.  200,  220. 
Tahk-d  L!ri<e.   115.   117,   118,  119, 

3.50, 
Tahk-o  River.  117.  3.50. 
Talik-oiig  lndi;uis,  212. 
Xanana'   Indians,   210.    247,    ,302, 

303. 
Tauana'  River,  210.  217,  2s9,  ,300, 

301.  :;02,  303,  305,  306.  3.52. 
Tantalus  Butte,  19ii. 


360 


INDEX 


Ta-tot'-lee  Mount,  see  Jioundary 
Buttf. 

Tchichagoff  Island.  12, 

Tents,  It),  130.  Ji3;3,  234,  243. 

Terns,  91. 

Terraces,  111.  114.  126. 

Thousand  Islands  of  St.  Law- 
rence, 195. 

Thunder.   130,  234. 

Timbfer,  -£i.  2(',  32,  33,  46,  67,  80, 
87,  91,  97,  98,  106,  132,  13.5,  \m, 
166,  181,  185.  188,  195,  233,  240, 
242,  248,  267,  293,  305,  334,  335, 
345. 

Tlinkit  Indians,  44,  45,  49,  51,  52, 
103,  104,  209. 

Tobos^gans,  see  Sledges. 

Totems.  24,  27.  43,  216,  219,  292. 

Totem -poles,  32,  42,  43,  44. 

Tosecargut  (river).  31o. 

"Tracking"  (canoes  or  raft),  63, 
64,  67,  237. 

Traders,  49,  (iO,  114.  207,  211,  212, 
239,  244,  245,  247,  274,  277,  284, 
314,  322,  333. 

Trading  material.  226,  227. 

Traders'  stores  or  stations,  49,  231 
238,  243,  245,  259, 260,  268,  280, 
306,  315,  318. 

Trout,  47,  68,  76,  111.  183,223. 

Tsimpsean  Indi.ans,  104. 

Tundras,  191,  293,  297. 

u 

Upper  Ramparts  of  the  Yukon,  see 
Ramparts. 


Vancouver  Island,  12,  13,  16. 
Venus  (visible  at  midnight)  124. 
Victoria  (city),  V.  I.,  B.  C,  14, 15. 
Victoria  (steamer),  10,  11,  35. 
Volcanic  ash,  19(5. 
Von  Wilczek  Valley,  193,  197,  200, 

201   20.3  .351. 
Voj/a(/enrs,'m,  281,  282,  283. 

W 

Ward,  Mr.,  24,  25. 
Washington  Territory.  12. 
Watei-falls,  21,  23,  68,  68,  72. 
"\'it(>r  Gap  (Delaware  River),   16. 


Watson,  Sereno.  Prof.,  211,  .347, 

.34H. 
Watson  Valley,  jiiH.  1(«   3^0. 
Western    Union   T«»iegrjiiph    Com- 

fl«-ny,  117,  118,  211. 
WTi«\aton  River.  107.  350. 
White  River,  12.%,    1i'9,  223,  227, 

2.39,  240,  241,  256,  351. 
White  stripe  on   river  bank — see 

Volcanic  ash. 
Whymper  River.  292,  204. 
Willard,  Rev.  Eugene  S.,  54,  57. 
Willows,  34,   67,  70,  90,  91,    128, 

155,    159,    199,    216.    2.37,    335, 

337. 
Wilwin,  Dr.  Geo.  F..  Surgeon  T.S. 

A.,  9,  .50,  Ui.  68,  76.  Ill,   154, 

18;?,  26;^.  273,  2^iK  Z'M.  .335. 
Wrangell,  26,  27,  2S. 
Wrestling  of  Indian  Vx)ys,  79. 
Wolves,  22(t.  294.  2'.fr 
Wood,  Lieut .  C.  E.  S.   4>9. 


Yellowstone  Cafion,  16,  207. 

Yosemite,  The,  207. 

"^'ukocargut  (riv(;r),  316,  352. 

Yukokon.  (river),  see  White  River. 

Yukon,  Fort.  117,  1.50,  15J,  211, 
2!';,  238,  265.  266,  270.  273,  274, 
275,  277,  278,  279,  280,  287,  293, 
294,  .332,  335,  351,  352. 

Yukon,  Fort,  Indians,  280,  284. 

Yukon  River,  11,  37,  59,  60.  61, 
88,  90.  103,  11.5,  116,  117,  118, 
125,  Ui.},  129,  130,  133,  134,  1.3.5, 
1.36,  i;?8,  1.59,  151,154,1.57,  16.3, 
165,  168,  169,  173,  176.  177,  180, 
189,  190,  193,  195,  196,  20.3,204, 
207,  208,  211,  212,  21.3,  215,  217, 
220,  224,  227.  229,  2.36,  2.39,  240, 
241,  244.  247,  2.50.  253.  256,  260, 
268.  269,  276,  277,  279,  281,  284, 


287,  292,  29.3,  301,  302.  305. 
312,  317, 
347.  350. 
Yukon  " 


319,321,326,  327 

351,3.52. 

(river 


306 
330 


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206,  268,  2T5,  276.  277,  284,  316. 

327,  330,  a32.  333,  3X5,  339,  341. 

Yuknu  \.dley,  12.5.   199,  2,39,  266, 

.321.  338,  347. 


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